Kun: The New Avatar (Book 1: Restoration)
by AvatarAero
Summary: It's been 10 years since Kuvira's defeat. Each and every member of Team Avatar is doing their part in helping global progression. But new danger lurks. The darkening force of evil will force a young man onto the center stage. With his friends beside him, and his enemies ever growing, the new Avatar, Kun, will have the pressure of the world on his shoulders.
1. Chapter 0: Introduction

**IF YOU WANT TO READ THE FIRST CHAPTER, PLEASE CLICK TO THE NEXT CHAPTER. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST CHAPTER.**

Hello all. This is my first post on this site, which is surprising, since I've been a die - hard Avatar fan since I watched the show as a teenager. I loved ATLA, and while Book 1 and 2 were a bit rocky for LoK, Books 3 and 4 easily made up for them in a character development whirlwind that harkened back to the days of ATLA.

So you can imagine my and millions of others' surprise when Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino said they would not continue LoK into a third series. Recently, I have gotten back into ATLA and LoK, watching all 100+ episodes in the span of a month. I wanted to bring my own twist to the series, since I have been a fan for a very long time, and so, with the help of a couple of friends, I made "Kun: The New Avatar".

I will be posting them every two weeks, starting from the 15th of October. I am in college, and the schedule may change around a lot, but I will do my best to keep true to the schedule. Any changes will be noted ahead of time.

I accept all criticism, and will admit ahead of time that nothing I will ever produce will reach the level of ATLA or LoK. But I do love this show, and I really think that this series will be full of twists and turns that will be fun, action - packed and a tinge nostalgiac. Okay, very nostalgiac.

Please keep in mind when criticizing that this is my own work, opinion and take on how the series will continue. No doubt, you have your own version of how things play out. But I think my version, while starting off sad and rough, will evolve (hopefully, I'm not a skilled writer) into something that we can all share as fans. I will now leave you with a preview of the series, much like Netflix or a description of a video would on YouTube.

"10 years after Kuvira's defeat in Republic City, the world has changed. Bolin has joined the global police force, Asami and Mako remain in Republic City to innovate and protect, Air Temple Island has dozens of new inhabitants and Korra has journeyed throughout the world, learning more about herself and helping others. But new danger lurks. Loose ends never thought about, circumstances constantly changing, and the darkening force of evil will force a young man onto the center stage. With his friends beside him, and his enemies ever growing, the new Avatar, Kun, will have to find a way to defeat the forces of Chaos and destruction - with a little help from places he'd never look to."

And here is the preview of the first episode:

"On the 10th anniversary of the Battle of Republic City, Jinora leads a group of young airbenders through the museum located in the statue of Avatar Aang. We learn all about the original Team Avatar, who ended the Hundred Years' War, and about the new Team Avatar, that singlehandedly saved the world from Amon, Unalaq, Zaheer and Kuvira. However, a new Avatar steps onto the stage: a young Earth Nation citizen named Kun. Thrust into the least of welcoming circumstances, Kun must find a way to handle the pressure of a city, a nation and a world with the help of his friends.

Feel free to comment where you think the first episode, and even the whole series will lead. I will pay legitimate money to whoever guesses it (Not really, but if you do guess it, congratulations! You have somehow understood my twisted and tricky imagination.).

Next Story: 11/11/16 OR 11/12/16


	2. Chapter 1: New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

 **I'm pretty sure this is how you make an author's note.**

 **Anyway, this is my first story, excluding my introduction. All criticism is accepted, unless the answer is clearly visible within the story or is explicitly stated in the introduction. Otherwise, I accept all criticism.**

 **Secondly, I would like to note that this is my first story, and I know that I did a horrible job of it. It's pretty awkward, and the time frames are all messed up. The second story will be much better.**

 **Also, this story is rated T, and this is due to the violence (somewhat mild violence, some physical damage later on) that will be exhibited during the series. This isn't really too bad, but I do advise that if you are squeamish, do not kindly to bodily harm, and/or don't enjoy action scenes, that you don't read this.**

 **That said, I hope you enjoy the first chapter, and better chapters will be coming soon.**

 **Update 10/14/16: I'm posting this on Friday because my day is completely packed for tomorrow. Sorry for the early post. Hope you enjoy.**

 **Update 10/18/16: I added in lines between perspective and time shifts, so that the general populace can follow my weird writing style. Hope this makes it easier to read.**

Prologue:

It's been 10 years since Kuvira's defeat in Republic City. She was the fourth and most difficult of the villains that Avatar Korra had to battle since coming to Republic City. First came Amon, looking for equality between benders and nonbenders, then Unalaq, who wanted harmony between the spirits and the humans. Zaheer, who felt the world was too out of balance, and finally Kuvira, who wanted to unite the Earth Kingdom under one banner. Each had a goal in mind: To better the world. All of them chose honorable problems to solve, but the saying "the end justifies the means" did not extend to these people.

After Kuvira was defeated, and locked away for good, each member of Team Avatar did their own work to preserve the new world peace and help the less fortunate make their mark on the world. Whether world missions or helping smaller towns get back on their feet, there was no job too small for Team Avatar in restoring world balance.

BOOK 1: RESTORATION  
CHAPTER 1: NEW BEGINNINGS

The 10th anniversary of the battle in Republic City. To Jinora, it felt much longer than that. As she breathed in the glorious air of Republic City, she couldn't help but imagine to what lengths the world would go to if everything continued to go right. She led a group of young airbenders into the statue of Avatar Aang, constructed after the end of the Hundred Years' War. Within it is a museum, holding the statues of all the major Team Avatar members.

"Don't go too far now; we're almost there! It's time to learn about Aang and Korra, and their friends that helped them win their wars!"

The group enters into the main room of the museum. Open to the public, and with tourists milling about, the original Team Avatar statues are on the left, while those of the more recent and living Team Avatar are on the right. The group heads to the first statue, one of Sokka.

Brandishing his sword forged from meteorite, Sokka wears his Southern Water Tribe helmet, as well as keeping his handy boomerang in a pouch to his side.

"We will begin with Sokka. Sokka was a master strategist, but he was also the comic in the group. He couldn't bend, but made up for it in his skills and his swordsmanship, wielding a sword made out of a meteorite. Sokka led the invasion of the Fire Nation fleet of ships that threatened to destroy the Earth Kingdom. He survived the attempt and came back to become the leading councilman for Republic City."

Many of the children were in awe. Sokka wasn't just a funny guy for the team's spirits - he was a lean, mean sword - wielding machine. For some, it changed their whole perspective on nonbenders, along with the next person on the team - Suki.

Suki is dressed like a Kyoshi Warrior. Adopting a defensive stance and leaning back, she uses her fans as deadly weapons on offense and defense. One is raised above her head, the other is brandished in front of her.

"Suki started out as a Kyoshi Warrior. She met Aang and his team early on in their journey to the Northern Water Tribe. Suki was captured by Fire Princess Azula trying to save Appa. After Sokka rescued her, with some help from Zuko, they teamed up to destroy the Fire Nation fleet of ships."

Suki was the epitome of female endurance - even Sokka was surprised the first time he met her on Kyoshi Island. She taught Sokka how to fight, which helped him a lot throughout his journey. The children were amazed, and they had a lot of questions about her.

"Wasn't she Sokka's girlfriend, like you are to Kai?"

Jinora is dumbstruck. "Uhh, I'm not…I mean, you'd have to ask…umm…"She quickly moves on to Toph, the least intimidating and most aggressive member of the original Team Avatar.

Toph is metalbending coils of metal rope on her belt. She is in her Chief of Police attire, with pure black armor as well as her signature head band.

"Toph became one of the strongest earthbenders in the world when she developed the ability to detect the fine pieces of earth in metal, bending it to her will. Not even the great King Bumi could achieve this feat. She left her rich and overprotective family to teach Aang earthbending, and helped Sokka and Suki take down the Fire Nation fleet of ships. She also became the first Chief of Police of Republic City, leading a force of metalbenders."

The children were shocked that this was the mother of Lin Beifong, much more powerful and yet so cranky, just like her daughter.

They moved on to Katara, who was waterbending in her Southern Water Tribe dress. She is bending the octopus, her favorite defensive style of bending.

"Katara is the first person Aang ever met after waking up from his iceberg. She was the only waterbender in the South 70 years ago, but became one of the strongest in the world. She became the best healer in the world as she grew older, and manned a healing hut in the Southern Water Tribe. She helped Fire Lord Zuko defeat his sister in their fight for the throne."

They move on to Fire Lord Zuko, in his Fire Nation robe and tousled hair. He had experienced a great deal of emotional turmoil and internal battle, defecting from the Fire Nation and then returning to the same father who scarred him.

"Fire Lord Zuko had been a long loyal member of the Fire Nation when he tracked down Avatar Aang for months. However, he found his loyalty wavering when he was forced to see his loving uncle imprisoned and felt worse for joining the nation that had scorned him. In the end, he made the right decision, by joining Team Avatar, teaching Aang how to firebend and setting up the United Republic as a global state for all nations."

To the children, firebending was the coolest skill you could have. And to think that Zuko was the reason that they all had a home in the biggest city in the world - they were instantly enamored. Zuko also used swords whenever he couldn't use his firebending, and he was as skilled with them as he was with his bending.

Finally, they moved onto Avatar Aang. With Momo on his shoulder, Aang stood reverently, enshrined in time as greatest savior of the world.

"Avatar Aang. Possibly the greatest Avatar of all time, Aang was known as kind and caring to all he met. He defeated Fire Lord Ozai in the final battle of the Hundred Years' War, and set up the United Republic, which would serve as the common ground for benders and nonbenders of all the nations."Jinora turned around to face the children. "Even though none of the original team have stayed with us, their legacy lives on within every person who fights for peace in the world. And the new Team Avatar is the perfect example."

"I'm sure most of you know who they are," she continued, "even though they did it all when you were babies. However, they are considered to be the greatest collection of benders and nonbenders since the original Team Avatar, and you are about to find out why."

The children begin to cheer. Jinora crosses the hall to Asami, the current CEO of Future Industries. Asami is in her racing outfit, wearing the Equalist glove she took from her father to save her friends.

"Asami is a nonbender, much like Sokka, and she is also a brilliant mind. Taking over Future Industries when her father was imprisoned, she began working with invention moguls like Verrick to increase the production of her goods and to help people in impoverished countries survive. It's thanks to her that the world is becoming more modern."

Jinora leads the group to Bolin. Bolin is bending a wall of lava in his normal outfit, and Pabu rests on shoulder.

"Bolin used to be a part of the Triads in Republic City's underworld, before becoming a pro bender. He was one of the original members of Team Avatar, and a loyal friend. He developed his signature style of lavabending while escaping the Northern Air Temple that overflowed with lava."

While the kids didn't really understand the importance of lavabending, they did think that a different form of bending was cool, and they loved seeing him bend lava.

They moved on to Mako. Mako is wearing his traditional red scarf, along with his windbreaker. He is shooting lightning out of his fingers to his right.

"Mako is Bolin's older brother, and partner in their pro bending team. He learnt how to shoot lightning from the leader of a triad, after which he became a pro bender and met Korra. After defeating Amon, Mako joined the police force. He works under Chief of Police Beifong, but he is still a member of Team Avatar and has always helped them out on missions."

Shooting lightning is another one of those skills that the kids loved, because it could be insanely fun, if they were smart about it.

The children move on to Tenzin, Jinora's father and the son of Avatar Aang. He is wearing his airbender's robe, while controlling a tornado of air over his head.

"Tenzin is Avatar Aang's legacy. Tasked with keeping the tradition of airbenders alive, Tenzin was happy to announce that he had 4 children, all of whom were airbenders, thus keeping his father's promise. Tenzin was the airbender representative for the council 14 years ago, when Republic City had a council board. Since then, he has trained the new airbenders born of Harmonic Convergence and led them on missions around the world to restore peace."

The children were amazed that this man was Aang's son, and that one day, they would learn from him and his wealth of knowledge. They also had some personal questions for Jinora herself.

"Is your dad old and mean? Is he cranky?"

Jinora laughs. "No, he's just always tense. He has been given an enormous responsibility, and the world isn't giving him an easy time trying to honor it."

Finally, they move on to Korra. Keeping her hair short, Korra is bending all 4 elements in a circle around herself while wearing her water tribe clothes.

"Avatar Korra is a personal friend of mine, and has managed to save the world 4 times in the past 15 years. Amon, Vaatu, Zaheer and Kuvira are just some of the people who have tried to change the world with their twisted ways and have tasted defeat because of it. After beating Zaheer, his poison crippled Korra, and she spent 3 years trying to help herself get back into form. But when she did, she came back with the fury of a tornado, and buried Kuvira's dream of taking over the Earth Kingdom in a pile of rubble."

All the children stood stunned. They had never heard of such raw power. One child fell over.

Outside, the children began arguing over their favorite Team Avatar member.

"Fire Lord Zuko is the best! He will burn you all!"  
"Toph will destroy him! She's the greatest earthbender ever!  
"You guys have heard of Avatar Korra and Avatar Aang, right?"

Jinora laughs to herself. She loved teaching the young airbenders, and took up responsibility of the newer airbenders found around the world. On the island of Avatar Aang, you could see the Arena across the bay. Far away, the glistening tower of Air Temple Island is visible, and Jinora picked out a glider rushing towards her. When it landed, she knew who it was.

"Hey there, Jinora! Miss me?"

"Kai!"

Kai flies in on his glider. He's wearing his airbending gliding uniform, and he looks insanely excited. He runs in and hugs Jinora.

"It's been such a long time, Jinora. How has Republic City been?"

"You should ask Mako. He's been hailed as one of the greatest police officers of this decade. He's really stepping up." "Mako and Bolin too. Bolin has been traveling the Earth Kingdom for years, trying to set right what Kuvira wrecked. He just recently went to the Fire Nation as ambassador for the Earth Kingdom with Opal. He's really stepping up."  
"That's amazing! How are the airbenders doing around the world?"

"It's been amazing. What Bolin and the global police force can't do, they delegate to us. We've been able to save countless villages in the Earth Kingdom. Thanks to Asami, nearly everyone is getting a hold of a radio, so they can call us if they need help."

Jinora sighs. She always expected the world to travel quickly, but this was incredible. Everybody was working together to help the world become more peaceful. "How has Korra been? I haven't seen her in a few months."

Kai thinks for a bit. "Last I heard, she was in the South of the Earth Kingdom, trying to beat off a group of rogues in the area. From what I've seen, she'll probably go north from there. I'd say she's in the swamp."

"Well, then, when do you think she'll be back?", Jinora asks. "She can travel through the spirit world quickly. As long as there are no problems there, we should see her by tomorrow."

A small child runs up. "Ooh, ooh, I wanna meet the Avatar. I wanna meet the Avatar!"

Jinora bends down. "Don't worry, Jin - Jin, you'll meet Avatar Korra soon enough. All of you will get to meet her!" Jinora announces. The children cheer.

Kai sets up his glider and says, "Jinora, I need to get to Air Temple Island and see if Tenzin has any more jobs for me. I'll get back to you soon. See ya!"

Jinora calls back, "Bye Kai! See you later!"

* * *

In a small village on the edge of the swamp, a young man about the age of 22 is playing with a fire pegasus outside of his house. His name is Kun. He lives with his mother, but has aspirations of traveling across the world. However, Kun is unable to bend earth, even though his father was one of the most powerful earthbenders of his time.

"Mom, I told you, I'm only going outside for a bit. It's not even noon; I can take some time to have fun in the swamp."

"No," says his mother. "I need help getting some fish for tomorrow. There isn't much fish left. Take Agni, and be back in an hour. Don't forget to bring some lychee nuts!"

"Fine," grumbled Kun. Even though his mother loved him, she could be harsh at times, and she didn't care much for his ridiculous notion of traveling the world.

"And don't ever think again that you can just waltz into the swamp. You know you can't defend yourself." Kun turns away, and tears start to stream from his eyes. "Mom, I told you not to bring that up. I'm trying every day."

His mother growls, "Well, then, you should stop trying, and help me out! You know that you won't be able to earthbend."

"Just…I'll go, mother." Kun sighs. He climbs onto Agni, and flies off. Kun flies to the swamp.

The swamp was, incredibly, made of one tree. Stretching out over miles of desert, the swamp turned into spirit vines at the end of the last Harmonic Convergence. While still humid, creepy and spiritual, Kun felt at home there. He could have some time to himself. With Agni's help, he manages to catch a dozen fish.

Like most days, Kun takes some time and tries to earthbend. "Come on!" Kun moves his hands in a airbender fashion. "Come on! Why isn't this working?" He proceeds to try multiple other movements, many of which aren't even related to earthbending. Kun, exhausted, flops down next to Agni. He sighs, "It'll never happen. I should just give up."

All of a sudden, he hears a series of explosions behind the tree. Agni quickly leaps up the tree, and starts snorting very quickly. Kun peeks out from behind the tree, and witnesses a rare sight.

Avatar Korra, deep in battle with 3 men, who seem to be bandits. The men have long sticks crackling with electricity, and at least 2 of the men are benders. They are clearly a part of a team. As the firebender and earthbender shoot their respective elements, the nonbender in the center is handed all 3 sticks and attacks Korra.

However, Korra is well - equipped to deal with their advances. She blocks the bending attacks with consistent streams of fire and maneuvers them to defend against the nonbender.

"Oh my god, it's Avatar Korra! I can't believe it!" Kun whispers from behind the tree. As he's hyperventilating, Korra is fervently trying to defend herself from the onslaught of the powerful benders. Korra lifts up a wall of water to defend against the vertical nonbender, but as the stick passes through the water, the electricity arcs through the insulating water and into Korra. Korra is thrown back and seems to be passed out.

"Come on, Agni, we have to help!" Kun leaps out from behind the tree and puts his fists up. "Hey! Leave her alone!"

All 3 bandits stop in their motion, and turn towards Kun. "Who do you think you are, kid? Get out of the way. This is between us and the Avatar." The derision in their voices as they said "Avatar" was obvious.

"I don't care what problems you have. You need to stop it now."

The 3 bandits look at one another and begin to laugh. "All right kid," says the nonbender. "We see that you might be fresh in these here swamps, so let me tell you something. No one tells us what to do, and you're going to pay."

The nonbender nods to the earthbender, who quickly earthbends a snaking chasm of earth towards Kun. At the end of the attack, a large stone erupts from the ground. While Kun tries to protect himself from the rock, he is hit under his arms, and sent flying.

The bandits quickly turn their attention to Korra, but Kun has bought her the time she needs. Korra instantly enters the Avatar State and begins to rise in a whirlwind, subconsciously protecting Kun in the process. The force of the blast is so strong that the only the earthbender remains grounded through his earthbending. The firebender has to use his fire to prevent himself from flying away, and the nonbender is thrown behind a tree.

Without warning, the earthbender throws a rock, not aimed at Korra, but at Kun. Korra blocks the rock and throws it back at the earthbender. However, in the process, she left herself open to attack. With one simple move, both the nonbender and the firebender use their sticks of electricity to hit Korra in the core. Korra is thrown back for the second time in as many minutes, and what looks like a white spirit flies out of her and lands next to Kun.

Kun is weak, but looks up to the spirit. "Raava…?"

Raava turns to Kun."Join with me; quickly. We cannot let the Avatar Cycle end." Kun looks up, and sees a fireball and a large rock flying towards him and Raava. With his eyes fixated on the oncoming attack, Kun reaches out with one hand, and with barely enough time to spare, fuses with Raava.

Within an instant, Kun is levitating under the force of the air that whirls about him. It knocks away both the fireball and the rock. He enters the Avatar State, forced upon him by the threat on his life. The nonbender leaps from the trees surround Kun and tries to shock him, but Kun blasts air at the nonbender so hard that he flies through the swamp and crashes 30 meters away.

"Wh - what just happened?" Both bandits are confused, but they decide to continue their onslaught, rather than give up hope. The firebender blasts fire at Kun, while the earthbender lifts up rocks and throws them at Kun.

Barely flinching, Kun uses the force of the firebender and augments it, to melt the rocks flying towards him and bear down on the earthbender. Even with a large stone as a shield, the earthbender is forced to retreat.

In desperation, the firebender increases his flames even more. However, Kun simply redirects the fire towards the firebender, and he too, runs away.

Kun slowly is lowered to the ground, and leaves the Avatar State exhausted. However, he sees Korra lying motionless, and runs to her side.

"Korra! Korra! Stay with me; there's a village not too far from here. " Korra, inexplicably still in the Avatar State, looks up at Kun. "There is no time. You must listen to what I have to say."

"Raava is a part of you now. You must continue the Avatar cycle. My death will not change the world." Saying so, Korra passed, leaving the fate of the world in Kun's hands.

* * *

Kun trudged back to his house, and slumped down inside his house.

"Did you get the fish?" No matter what the situation, the first thing that came for his mother was the job at hand. Kun handed the bag of a dozen fish over to his mother. Miraculously, none had been harmed in the elemental battle happening just 20 feet from them.

"What's happened? You look down, Kun."

Kun exhales deeply. "Mother, you know how I've always said that I wanted to travel the world?"

"A ridiculous notion," his mother snorts. "You know you have to help me with the supermarket. There's no other help around here."

Kun replies, "I understand, mother, but I might have a chance. You see, I encountered the Avatar in the swamp." Kun recounts the troubles in the swamp - the battle between Korra and the bandits, Raava, his fusion, and him becoming the new Avatar. To prove his point, he calls Agni over. Slung on top of Agni is Avatar Korra, pristine, but well and truly dead.

His mother gasps. "Could it be?", she whispers to herself.

"Mother?"

"Kun, you must go to Air Temple Island and meet with master Tenzin. He will know what to do with you."

"Wait, mother - you're just accepting this? You have no questions; you're not worried?"

His mother stops her preliminary packing. "I knew that you would do something in this world. Your father - he was descended from Avatar Kyoshi. You have a history with the Avatar, and you are going to Republic City to fulfill your destiny."

Kun smiles. Within minutes, his mother put together some essentials and packed them on Agni. "Now, remember what you want to tell Master Tenzin. You must be forward, but firm. You have to make him believe that you are the Avatar."

"I will mother. See you later."

Kun flies off on Agni. His mother looks after him for a few seconds, and then turns back into the house, with a tear in her eye.

* * *

Tenzin flies to Air Temple Island on Oogy. Tenzin, even at the elderly age of 65, still was an impressive figure. He still towered over Kai and Jinora, in his regular orange and yellow robe. He jumps off, and is greeted by Jinora and Kai.

"Jinora, how are you? How have the airbenders been?"

Jinora hugs her father. "The airbenders are great, Dad, and I'm doing well."

Tenzin ends the hug and looks at Kai. "You did a fantastic job in Shin - Zu. I'm proud of you."

Kai bows to Tenzin. "Thank you."

Tenzin asks a question that has been troubling them since Kuvira's defeat. "How did the village respond to your help, and how do you think we should help them in the future? That is our biggest problem."

Kai replies, "Well, the way that I helped them was by confirming that I was an airbender. Once they knew I was with you, helping them, they were glad to rally behind me. And they want to drive out the bandits, they just haven't found a good leader to help them. Once I expressed my desire to save them, it became much easier to drive out the rogues."

Tenzin strokes his beard. "Then I guess that should be our goal. With responsive villages, our task should be much simpler."

"It's all thanks to Bolin, Korra and you. If it weren't for your collective efforts after the war with Kuvira, there is a chance we would never have unity in the Earth Kingdom," Kai acknowledges.

Tenzin laughs. "I can't take responsibility for that. It was Prince Wu who let the states govern themselves. It did only take him 4 months to realize that wasn't a good idea. His democracy since then has been thriving, and his wise decision to include an ambassador from each Nation has helped the world connect even more on global issues."

Jinora then speaks up. "Kai, you mentioned Korra. Do you know where she is? Yesterday, you told me that she might be in the swamp."

Kai scratches his head. "I did think she was in the swamp, and I was right. She should've been back by now. When I heard from Rohan, she was moving through the Spirit World quickly, and was headed for Republic City."

Tenzin is alarmed. "This is cause for worry. We must find a way to contact Korra quickly. Jinora, go talk to Chief Beifong and Mako. See if they can get any contact in the swamp. Kai, I want you to send a wire out to Bolin. I want a full report of everything he has noticed in the swamp. And I will get Rohan to do a scan of the swamp from above. If there's anything that he can notice, he needs to report to me. Let's find Korra!"

Kai and Tenzin run off towards Air Temple Island, while Jinora flies on her glider towards Republic City. The next day, after a whole afternoon of talking to generals, officials and policemen in the Earth Kingdom, the trio reconvene to discuss what they've found. Jinora begins.

"As far as Lin and I could figure out, there have been no reports of suspicious activity in or around the swamp in the past few months. Just the usual reports of orchestrated bandit and rogue activity."

Tenzin thinks for a moment. "That might not be the cause of Korra's absence, but it is a serious problem. Let's talk about it after we find Korra. Kai, did you get anything from Bolin?"

Kai replies, "Well, Bolin says he can't go into the swamp, since he can't bend earth or lava in there. That might be a problem for the global police force to get in there. Unless they have a waterbender in their team."

"No, it's alright. I have Rohan scouting the swamp. If there's anything to see, and I'm sure there is, Rohan will find out all about it."

Jinora is worried. "Dad, what's wrong?"

Tenzin replies, "I am concerned for the safety of the world, Jinora. Korra is not the girl she used to be. She is collected, and mature. If she needs to defeat someone, she will do it, in full Avatar State. And anything that can defeat Korra in full Avatar State is something to be very concerned about."

"But why is that a problem? Won't the Avatar cycle just continue onwards?", Kai asks.

"No. If she is killed in the Avatar State, the Avatar cycle ends forever. And even if she exited out prior to her death, anything that is strong enough to defeat her will stop at nothing to eradicate the Earth Kingdom in hopes that the next Avatar is caught in the crossfire. The world will descend into chaos, and that may just be the goal of the perpetrator."

Kai whispers, "So that's why Korra is always scared for the Avatar State."

Tenzin nods gravely. "Yes. Not only that, but if the new avatar is found by the perpetrator, then they might be able to induce the Avatar state, and rid the world of the Avatar. We must prepare for the worst."

Tenzin turns to Kai. "Kai, I want you to get to every airbender we have. Once they're finished with their missions, I want them to scour the Earth Kingdom and look for every newborn Earth Nation child."

Kai nods, and runs off to the temple. Jinora turns to her father. "Do you really think it's that bad, Dad?"

Tenzin lowers his head. "If what the legends say are true, then it may just be much worse."

* * *

President Konna, the third President of the United Republic, protected by both Lin Beifong and Mako, is responding to reporters on news of Korra's disappearance.

"What measures are being taken by Republic City to ensure the Avatar's protection?"

"Why was she in the swamp without protection?"

"Why don't we have enough information on the swamp to guarantee the safety of those who enter it?"

President Konna fends off the reporters with ease, his years of politcal experience helping him out. "We have the global police force working on the issue. Avatar Korra is an adept bender, and she can handle herself without added protection. And the swamp is a very spiritual place. Only master benders can truly understand it."

Mako scoffs, "What are these ridiculous questions? Why don't they get to the point?"

Lin shrugs. "That's the press for you. Ask you useless questions and then banter in the newspapers about all the wrong things you said."

Mako turns to Lin. "Are you sure you can't do anything about the swamp? Surely you can talk to Toph."

Lin turns to the side. She hides her face, but Mako can clearly see a tear trickle down the right cheek. "It's been a while since I talked to my mother, and I don't even know if…". Lin sniffs, and wipes away a tear. "Besides, I can't earthbend in the swamp. My mother is the only one who could do that. I would be powerless, even with my metalbending."

Mako thinks for a bit. "That seems like a problem we should be able to solve. Let me talk to Asami. She might be able to augment the bending problem. Can I clock out?"

"Go ahead, rookie." Even the "rookie" quip didn't bother him as Mako turned and ran off. President Konna's advisors close the press conference, and Konna turns to Lin. She accompanies him back into City Hall.

* * *

Kun and Agni are flying above the pristine clouds. Kun is holding a map that outlines the fastest route to Republic City.

"Down here, boy!" Agni plunges downward through the clouds, and they break apart to reveal the harbor of Republic City. To the North, they can see City Hall in all of it's magnificence. To their left, the massive statue of Avatars Aang and Korra stand side - by - side, as if protecting the city. And to their right lies Air Temple Island.

A few gliders fly up towards Agni. Kun places a steady hand on Agni's neck to calm him down. The gliders slow down and approach Agni. Meelo is at the forefront of the group.

"What is your business in Republic City, flying fire pegasus?" Kun pops his head above Agni. "Hello! I would like to talk to Master Tenzin."

Meelo thinks for a bit. "Do you have an appointment?"

Kun replies, "No, but I have important information about Avatar Korra, and the new Avatar."

"Follow us then." The gliders plunge downward towards Air Temple Island, and Kun follows on Agni.

Once Agni is in the sky bison stable, quite uncomfortably so, Kun is led inside, and enters a room filled by Mako, Asami, Tenzin, Lin, Jinora and Kai.

"Come in, Kun. My name is Tenzin, and these are my associates. This is Mako, Chief Beifong, Asami Sato, Jinora and Kai." As he says each name, Tenzin points to each member, and Kun respectfully bows.

"What information do you have about Korra? Is she in danger?"

Kun hangs his head. "No, not anymore. Korra is dead."

There is an audible intake of air as everyone in the room breathes in sharply. Mako and Asami are on the verge of tears, and the rest look gravely troubled and saddened.

Tenzin stands up. "I am sure that we all should take some time to ourselves after this meeting. This news is both shocking and grievous. But we must first acknowledge our guest, and decide on a course of action. Kun, do you know who the next Avatar could be?"

Kun takes a deep breath. "It's me."

"How do you know?"

Kun recounts his adventures in the swamp: How he saw Korra fighting a group of bandits, how Raava and he joined and how he, in the end, was the cause of Korra's death. By the end, Asami excused herself to mourn, and the rest were tearing up. "After I joined with Raava, I went into the Avatar State and sent them fleeing. I think - I have to be the new Avatar."

Tenzin stands up. "What proof do you have of your statements? For all we know, you could be the enemy."

Kun looks scared. "Please, I'm telling the truth. I - "

Jinora looks up. Her eyes are red. "No, he's right. I feel a strong spiritual energy coming from him. It's very similar to Korra, but is much stronger. Are you related to any Avatars?"

Kun blinks. "Yes. My mother told me my father was descended from Avatar Kyoshi."

Jinora nods. "I've heard it said that those with the strongest connections to the Avatar have the deepest history with them," she says.

Tenzin cuts in. "We must look to the future now. The Avatar cycle must continue onwards. If what you say is true, Kun, then we will need the Avatar in the coming battles. What else do you think was unusual about the bandits?"

Kun speaks up. "One of them was an earthbender, and I'm pretty sure that the only person who could do that is Toph."

"Lin, what do you have to say about that?" "From my experience, they must have some kind of bending enhancer. I have known no common earthbender who could earthbend in the swamp."

enzin turns to Kun. "Then we must investigate that. First and foremost, do you have any bending experience?"

Kun shakes his head. "My father was a powerful earthbender, but I can't bend at all."

Tenzin straightens. "Then we must start from the beginning. The only logical step is to have a bender of each of the elements help you here, at Air Temple Island."

Kai leaps forward. "I could train him."

Tenzin shakes his head. He says in a deep voice, "I cannot let anyone other than myself and the world's most powerful benders teach Kun. I owe it to myself, to Korra and most of all, to Kun." Tenzin takes a raggedy breath. "I will train him in airbending. I can contact Fire Lord Izumi about her availability to teach Kun as well. Tonroq, I'm sure, will be devastated, but he will invest in Korra's successor as much as possible. And Lin, can you do the honors?"

Lin punches her palm. "I would love to. But don't expect me to pull my punches. I need to get this runt ready for these traitors who decided to take out the Avatar."

Kun brightens up, even in the face of the insult. "I know I made a mistake, and I'm truly sorry. Korra was my hero. And as her successor, I will do all that I can to be the best Avatar I can be."

Mako places a hand on his shoulder. "Don't forget, this is Team Avatar. We're a team, and a family. We always have your back, no matter what the problem."

"Thanks, guys."

* * *

In the snowy mountains of the Earth Kingdom, a snowy city is built into the side of a mountain. A large metal bunker resides at it's edge. Two men walk into the bunker, and throw Kun's mother into it, closing the door behind them.

A shadowy figure laughs at the other end.

Kun's mother is a mess, but she remains adamant. "Do what you want to me, but I won't tell you anything."

In a deep voice that reminds Kun's mother of Republic City, the shadowy figure rasps, "I don't want you to tell me anything."

With a hand outstretched, he begins to bloodbend Kun's mother. "I took down one Avatar. I can repeat the task."

THE END

 **Author's Note:**

 **So now that you read that...yeah.**

 **But don't worry! The second chapter is better, kinda.**

 **Ah whatever. Just leave me any criticism you have. I will accept any (and many) pieces of criticism that I inevitably know I will get.**

 **Also, if this isn't part of the chapter list with the "Introduction", please let me know. Like I said, first story.**

 **Get ready for Chapter 2 of this series, "Stand and Deliver", coming out on 10/28/16 or 10/29/16.**

 **Anyway, see you on the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 2: Stand and Deliver

**Author's Note:**

 **This is my second chapter. I think I did a much better job with this than I did with my first chapter.**

 **Someone to thank for that. AvatarAang7, who is a good friend of mine, has given me some great feedback and just provided some great fanons that have inspired me to write better.**

 **Some of you may know him for being a writer of fanfiction both on here and on the Avatar Wiki. Nevertheless, if it hadn't been for a 2 day binge of all of his stories, this chapter would not be nearly as well developed as it is now.**

 **You can find the link to his profile on FFN here:** u/6303202/AvatarAang7

 **(FFN isn't allowing me to write their URL, so just copy + paste the link, and you should find it in Google)**

 **You will also notice that I have line breakers in my story, which I am so glad I managed to do since my style includes a lot of time and perspective shifts, which are really evident. I apologize once more for the hard reading in the previous story. I didn't know how to accomplish this until this chapter.**

 **Update 10/18/16: I have added line breakers in my other story, so it should be easier reading now.**

 **This also ties in to why it's longer than my other two stories combined, but that's because I had a lot of content that I wanted to write down.**

 **That said, I hope you enjoy the story, and I'll see you on the other side.**

Prologue:

It's been 10 years since Kuvira's defeat in Republic City. She was the fourth and most difficult of the villains that Avatar Korra had to battle since coming to Republic City. First came Amon, looking for equality between benders and nonbenders, then Unalaq, who wanted harmony between the spirits and the humans. Zaheer, who felt the world was too out of balance, and finally Kuvira, who wanted to unite the Earth Kingdom under one banner.

Each had a goal in mind: To better the world. All of them chose honorable problems to solve, but the saying "the end justifies the means" did not extend to these people.

After Kuvira was defeated, and locked away for good, each member of Team Avatar did their own work to preserve the new world peace and help the less fortunate make their mark on the world. Whether world missions or helping smaller towns get back on their feet, there was no job too small for Team Avatar in restoring world balance.

BOOK 1: RESTORATION  
EPISODE 2: STAND AND DELIVER

The large airbending foyer was packed with people, some new, but many familiar to the Avatar and her friends. Dressed in black, with the occasional dash of dark blue, all remained silent as they mourned the loss of Avatar Korra.

At the head of the hall, facing the audience, sat the members of Team Avatar, along with Lin, Kai, Tenzin and his children. Senna was present at the congregation, comforted by Asami. However, Tonraq was noticeably missing, attending to important business in the Southern Water Tribe. He was crushed with the news, and promised Tenzin that he would sail to Republic City at the first opportunity to teach Kun waterbending. Kun was a part of the group, and sat between Bolin and Mako, at the end of the stage.

Tenzin stood up. He discarded his traditional orange and yellow robe for one much darker, bordering purple, and much less like a gown than a suit. His voice is rough, and tears slide down his face as he speaks. "We have come here to honor one of the greatest friends and heroes that has ever graced the Earth. Korra was a proficient bender, one of the best, and she did her best to keep the world safe. I am proud to be her mentor, spiritual guide, and most importantly, her friend. In times of need, Korra knew that all of us here today would be beside her, and we all knew that we could count on Korra to help us. We shared the tightest of bonds, through thick and thin, and no one has been worse off as a result of meeting Korra. May she rest in peace, and be with the other Avatars of the past."

With the heartwarming speech, Tenzin moved back, and let the others on stage deliver their eulogies as well. Asami went first. Dressed in her normal engineer's outfit, her speech shook the room as she described Korra's recovery after Zaheer's imprisonment in shocking detail. Asami revealed that Korra was never truly at peace with herself until after she met Zaheer in prison, and focused on their continuous bond and relationship throughout the 3 years. Tearfully, Asami completed her eulogy, and moved back to let the others continue.

Slower than a treadmill, each close friend of Korra's gave a sincere speech, recounting the past 14 years with her and ending on how they were proud to have met her. The tragic end to one of the world's greatest heroes, savior of humanity many times over, was given a proper and grand farewell.

At the end, the assemblage was led outside, where, on top of Air Temple Island, the most experienced benders, including Tenzin, Mako, Bolin, Kya, and many of the airbenders, built a statue made of 4 elements in Korra's likeness. When they finished, they stepped back to admire their work. Tenzin turned to face the group, and spoke in a voice loud enough for all to hear.

"While we mourn the loss of one Avatar, we introduce the birth of another. Without him, the Avatar cycle would have been lost forever. For that, we must thank Avatar Kun. As his airbending mentor, I will do all in my power to ensure that those responsible for Korra's death will not go unpunished, and that Kun will herald a new age of greatness, peace and balance."

Kun stepped up next to Tenzin. Dressed in clothing that resembled Avatar Wan's original garments, Kun was an imposing figure. His body was molded by constant exercise and practice in the swamp. He was light on his feet, had a twinkle in his eye, and was completely prepared to shoulder the burden of the world, if it meant being the Avatar. Even his awkward smile was not enough to deter his positive spirit from emanating the leadership and strength that an Avatar required.

All those present stepped up to Korra's statue and humbly bowed. Nearly as large as the Aang statue across the bay to her right, Korra peered out over the vast blue ocean, as if protecting Republic City. Her eyes sparkled blue, a courtesy. She would remain enshrined as a guardian of her city that she gave her life protecting.

As the group of people began to disperse, tearfully dabbing at their eyes with handkerchiefs, Tenzin stepped up to Kun. "It makes me joyful that what Korra couldn't accomplish, she passed on to you." Resting a hand on Kun's shoulder, Tenzin peered into his eyes. "Tomorrow, we shall begin your training as an earthbender." A smile breaks out on Kun's face, and he bows to Tenzin. "Thank you, Teznin. I won't fail you."

* * *

Early the next morning, Kun is woken up by a series of loud thuds outside of his room in the men's dormitory of Air Temple Island. In his groggy state, Kun believes that the temple is under attack, and so wildly falls out of his bed, crashes through the door and runs down the hallway.

"We're under attack!" Kun's screeching wakes up even Meelo, who charges out of his room wearing his Oogy pajamas. "I told you, I need my beauty sleep in the morning!" Kun finally busts out the front door of the temple and races out into the yard. He is shocked to see that the source of the booms is Lin Beifong earthbending huge rocks.

As she saw Kun trailblazing his way into the yard, along with Tenzin, Kai, Bumi, and other male acolytes behind him, within their pajamas, Lin smirked. "Now that you're up and running, let's get you to work." Upon hearing this, Kun promptly collapses.

After a few minutes of freshening up and grabbing a bite to eat, Kun leaves the Temple in his regular clothes, he sees Lin with some simple pebbles to start bending.

Lin, much like Tenzin, still retained her immense bending strength and figure, even into retirement age. She continued to wear her Chief of Police uniform, although with her Medal of Honor badge tacked next to her chief insignia, for showing courage and bravery against Kuvira's army. The scar on her right jaw twitched with every facial expression she made, and she still had a slight limp from her encounter with the arm of Kuvira's robot.

Kun stumbles out the front door of the temple, and half crawls his way over to Lin, who looks at him with a smirk. "Get up, rookie. We have a lot of work to do today." Kun scrambles to his feet, alert and ready. "You've never bent any element before, right?" "No." Within the simple, curt response, Kun embodies years of hope and disappointment, that he couldn't achieve the one thing he always wanted and hoped for, the one thing that would make him like his father.

"That's alright. You've got your chance now. Here, catch." Lin tosses a couple of pebbles at Kun, who barely manages to snatch them out of the air. The error is not lost on Lin, who raises her eyebrows. "You're going to have to be a little more athletic if you want to be a bender." Kun blushes a bit. "Its not me, I'm just tired." Lin laughs, a dead laugh which makes Kun want to curl up and hide. "You'll have to ditch the excuses too. In a real fight, if you're tired, you're done."

Kun was slightly taken aback at her forwardness, but relented. "All right, you got me. What do you want me to do?" "Lift the pebble." The pebble in Kun's hand shot out of his palm and began to spin around his head. The second one, in Lin's palm also began to rise, performing random actions, completely separate from Kun's pebble. "I don't expect you to get that far on your first day. Just lift the pebble, and hold it there."

Kun stared at the pebble in his hand. He looks up at Lin, and asks, "How do you want me to do it? I can't bend, so I don't know what you have to do." Lin shrugs. "I don't know how I began to bend, or how anyone began to bend. The way we do it now is with our actions, but as you could see there, I didn't have to do anything to lift those pebbles. Just...focus. That's all I can tell you."

Kun nodded. He took a deep breath. His gaze zeroed in on the pebble. His eyes outlined the irregular shape, traced the crevices and lumps on the surface, and rested right in the center of the small piece of rock. As he continued to look at the rock, he could feel himself tense up, his considerable muscles tightening, to a point where he could feel that the rock was a part of him. It seemed to reverberate, back and forth, in tune with his pulse.

And nothing happened. The stone sat in his palm. His mind was envisioning the most extravagant movements, but the pebble remained where it was. This continued for an astonishing ten minutes. After ten minutes of clearing his mind, doing nothing but focusing on the pebble and trying to earthbend, all Kun got for his troubles was a profound lack of movement.

It was as if Raava herself was testing Kun, who got infuriated. Enraged, he flung the pebble at the temple, which ricocheted directly back at him with a small "ping!". Unsure of what to do, Kun's reflexes kicked in and he held his hands up to his face.

About a foot from his hands, the pebble stops, quivering in the air. Kun looks down at his hands, as the pebble continues to hover, before it drops to the ground without warning. Kun turns around, shocked and amazed, and starts to blabber off: "What the - I can't - wow, Lin, did you - ". He cuts himself off as he sees Lin with her arm outstretched towards him. "Last thing you might want to work on: your temper," she says with a sigh.

* * *

Pema brings out the supplies for Tenzin, Jinora and Kai. "Now, are you sure you don't need anything else? Because I can whip something up real quick if you need it since you're going to be cold - ". Tenzin stops her in her tracks. "We don't need anything, darling. I might look old, but I'm not out yet."

"Come on, Dad! We're going to be late! And I don't think that Quonghai has much time left!", Jinora yells down from Pepper. Behind her, Kai is stocking their supplies, containing the majority of their food, warm clothing, enough material for tents should they need it and their advanced gliders.

Courtesy of Asami's engineering genius, the new gliders harnessed the power of air currents to increase the user's capacity for control and speed. Essentially, the larger surface area allowed for less of the user's airbending energy to be spent on controlling their glider, allowing them to be prepared to fight should they need it in a pinch, and allowing them to travel long distances on small amounts of energy.

"I'm coming darling," Tenzin calls up. He looks back at Pema, who says, "Be safe. I know this is routine airbender business, but since you're so close to - well, the Forgotten City, I want you to take every precaution." Tenzin takes his wife's hands in his own. "Pema, I'll be alright. I'll come back, safe and sound."

Tenzin leaps onto Pepper's back. Pepper promptly flies off in a northwestern direction, leaving a very worried Pema behind.

* * *

Leaving behind the pebble concept, Lin decided to go for the throat and put Kun in danger in order to "hopefully understand that the world is in danger and not stick to your prissy idea of not bending", as if Kun could control whether he could bend earth or not. Lin's extremely safe method of accomplishing this was by letting a large stone slab fall on Kun, by dropping a rock on his head, and by rolling a giant boulder towards him, among other things.

Understandably, Kun was doubtful, but he trusted Lin's instincts in training him. Lin also had a second reason for attempting to put Kun's life in danger: through all of her exploits, she understood and had come to accept the constant danger and pain she was subjected to. However, Kun did not have that "luxury", and therefore, needed to be toughened up for battle. He was used to physical labor and hard work, but the perseverance and determination that accompanied most battles was lost on him. It was Lin's pleasure to change that.

Lin, a lifelong earthbender, had no idea how to ignite the spark of bending that Kun obviously lacked. Hopefully, she expected that Kun would earthbend in response to the dangers posed to him. Otherwise, she hoped that he would be able to weather the pain and bring himself up to the fighting standard he would need to be at. Kun, on the other hand, was focused with intensity on being able to earthbend, making his and Lin's goals align for a few days. Both were willing to go to lengths in order to start Kun's earthbending, and both were ready to sustain as much pain in order to do it.

Lin's stone slab stood 3 meters tall, 3 meters wide and was a foot thick. Even with Kun's considerable height, the slab towered over him. He looked over at Lin, who was holding the thousand pound rock with ease. With a quick nod from Kun, Lin's hand clenched and jerked back.

For a second, the massive chunk of stone teetered on its edge, almost defying gravity, before toppling down on Kun with the force of an elephant. Kun's large hands extended, he bore the brunt of the half ton weight surprisingly well. Kun's arms straining to their maximum, his legs attempt to find purchase in the smooth stone of the airbending field. However, he relents after a few seconds, dropping the stone with a resounding "BOOM!".

He looks over at Lin, who nods approvingly. "Nice job, kid, but you're going to need to do better than that." She raises her hand, and an identical sized block of stone rips itself out of the ground. Kun smiles a weary smile.

* * *

Kai had seen all types of airships, and in his humble opinion, the one before him was purely ineffective and ridiculous. In fact, it seemed to represent the opposite of the goals of airships.

Kuvira's and Republic City's airships were very similar in design, intended to be defensive and could sustain damage. The Equalist airships (of which Kai had seen pictures) looked poised to strike at all times, with space for the holding bay of Sato's airplanes. And Future Industries' airships were designed with speed and grace in mind, able to evade other airships. It was also designed with comfort, able to hold a large number of humans, and, incidentally, a polar bear dog and a sky bison.

However, the clunky airship that was in front of Kai looked poorly made. Constructed from bits of scrap metal, the airship was too wide across, which, coupled with its immense size, forced it to spend an asinine amount of room and space on keeping itself afloat. This left very little room for any storage space, defense or even any crew members' dormitories.

Kai shrugged to himself. The aircraft was still being fixed, so he expected that the overseer of the project would rail on the crew when he had the chance. He turned around, saw Jinora and Tenzin safely asleep, and decided not to wake them simply to point out an ill - conceived project designed to fail. He urged Pepper farther northwards.

Below him, a small projectile launcher lined up Pepper's line of movement. Anticipating where the sky bison would be in a few seconds, a finger wrapped around the trigger, and slowly tightened its grip…

* * *

Kun's arms hung at his side as he sat down on the fresh grass, for the first time in over half an hour now. The stone slabs and giant boulders he had been forced to hold or stop from rolling had destroyed any feeling in his arms. He knew, from years of experience, that he would not be able to do so much as bow to Lin the next morning.

Lin, also quite tired, sat next to him. While she did only have to perform simple tasks, the tedious mental task of both keeping hundreds of pounds in place at once while also yelling instructions - and insults - at Kun took a toll on her. Lin was the most powerful earthbender on the planet, but even she tired eventually, and much easier in her older age.

Lin looked over at Kun, who had his arms splayed out as he fell onto his back. "Nice job, rookie," she finally managed to grunt. In response, Kun groaned loudly, which elicited a small chuckle from the Beifong. "Ah, I remember when I did stuff like this every single day with my mother. Those were the good times, before I got this scar" - she gestures to her face - "and this cursed leg," with a flick towards her right leg.

Kun smiles a little at the thought of a young Lin trying to hold boulders over her head while Toph yelled, "Even my mother could do this stuff, and she's a prissy queen!" As if reading his mind, Lin said offhandedly, "My mother was a pretty good teacher, even though she did reference her own rich and overprotective mother a lot."

"What's your mother like?" Kun starts at the question, directed towards him. The entire day, Lin had been hard as a rock, never letting her feelings, or more commonly, Kun's pain, get in the way of his training. But now, she opened up like a ripened fruit, likely the result of a long day's worth of constant training. "I don't really know how to describe her. She's pretty, and she loves me and who I was before meeting Korra and who I am afterwards. She used to be in love with my father, a powerful earthbender, and the one descended from Kyoshi, but he left me when I was 12. It's been a hard life, living alone in the swamp, but my mother managed it."

Lin becomes intrigued at the mention of Kun's father. She queries further: "Your father, this powerful earthbender, was he part of the police force?" Kun thinks for a moment, before finally replying, "I don't know. The last thing I remember about him is my mother and him having a big argument. I don't know what it was about. The next morning, he vanished."

Lin falls back next to Kun. "Yeah, I hear you," she growls. "I barely met my father. Growing up, he was the sack of trash you would find on the side of the streets, but somehow my mother was enamored. He left once I was born, and I've hated him my entire life." Lin scoffs, before spitting to her right. "Who would have thought that Toph Beifong would be part of the lower social order: a single mother with two kids?"

Kun rolled onto his side once more, and stared into the sky. As he did, he noticed a slightly more rosy tinge, and just thought he was hallucinating. But no, the sun was going down. He was so surprised he quickly got up, eliciting a groan as his arms hit the ground hard. Lin looks up as well. "Wow, I can't believe it's already the evening. Well, I guess we're done with your arms for the day. You don't need to worry about straining them."

Kun sighs away his worries for the next 12 hours, and lays back down to rest. All of a sudden, a rock rams into his backbone, propelling him upwards and onto his feet. "Oww!", he yells, rubbing the small of his back, the farthest he could reach without more pain from his shoulders. Lin is standing up as well. "I didn't say you could stop! We're working on legs now! Get your bum into the middle of the field. This is going to be fun."

By this point, any thought of Kun earthbending as a result of these activities were gone. The whole point had devolved to Kun's training to be a fighter, rather than an earthbender. Lin's hope had been that putting Kun's life in danger would have helped stimulate his prior acts of bending once more, but to no avail. Kun's body seemed hell - bent on refusing to bend earth to save Kun's life, so Lin reserved such training for the next day.

The new exercise that Lin had planned for Kun involved his legs, and balance, rather than arms. As Lin explained, "Your legs are the focus of your entire bending strategy, and they are especially important in earthbending. Without proper stance, and without agility, you can't win a fight. Working on your legs means developing your fighting, as well as bending abilities."

The challenge consisted of Kun standing on a plate of stone, while Lin would "rock" the stone plate with outcroppings of rock, lifting one side of the stone with rocks and otherwise trying to throw Kun off balance. Lin could not bend the stone directly, and Kun could not use his hands to touch the stone. Any balance had to be acquired using his legs.

Initially, Lin went a bit easy on Kun, who was used to physical exertion but never the specific type of challenge this "game" posed. A slight lifting of the stone in front of him forced Kun on his heels in order to regain his balance, and a quick uppercut with stone on his left titled the slab slightly. Kun managed to remain standing, but once he fell, the game was over.

All of a sudden the slab tilted forwards almost 45 degrees, and with Kun scrambling backwards to stay on the slab, another rock hit the left side, knocking him to the right. What happened next was lost to Kun, but his eyes fluttered open to see Lin standing over him. "You knocked yourself out, kid. You really did well out there. Take a break, and let's work on your earthbending later." Grateful, Kun closed his eyes once more.

* * *

The door to the large metal bunker slams open, creating a resounding echo within the room. Naoki opened her eyes, shielding them slightly from the sun. Dressed in nothing more than brown linen, Naoki's hands were rough, her wrists and ankles were sore from the rope that dragged her all the way from the swamp, and she hadn't washed since she was imprisoned.

One of the guards stepped forward. Dressed in pure black platinum armor, he towered over the weak Naoki. Grabbing her roughly by the shoulder, he lifted her with no discernible effort, and threw her to the other guard. As Naoki was taken away, she noticed the gold insignia on his breastplate, one that resembled the Earth Kingdom symbol.

She was led through a dizzying maze of tunnels, shafts, elevators and hallways. As far as she could tell, with her breath steaming out of her mouth, that they were in the northern Earth Kingdom. Finally, at the end of her journey through the kilometers of tunnels through the ground, she ended up at a simple door, with nothing more than two indentations of gold handles to break the smooth metal.

The guard in front of her nods to the door, which prompts two guards to run out from the behind the walls with earthbending and clamp her in chains, retreating back through the walls with some method of earth travel. Leaving her immediate vicinity for the first time since she left the bunker, the guard pulls out some sort of electricity rod from his belt, tracing the outline of the door. With a hiss, the door creaks open.

Naoki is shoved forward, and under the weight of the chains, falls on her front. Her chains open with a soft "clink", and Naoki scrambles to her feet. The room is somewhat large, sustained by small lights dancing around the perimeter of the ceiling and the walls are covered with paintings of various bending forms. The wall which Naoki came from shows pictures of earthbending, while the opposite wall is dedicated to airbending. At the far end of the metallic room, a picture of the four elements slowly breaks open, revealing an intimidating figure.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Naoki shivers, as she realizes this is the same man she met the day that Kun left. As he steps forward, into the light of the room, his full attire is visible. Dressed in a cloak of some sort, the man seems to be emulating a tribal leader. Gloves wrap around his hands, and his feet are protecting by large boots that thud on the floor. The cloak is open in the front, a mixture of a posterior robe and a full - length cloak. His black pants are crumpled, suggesting he was seated prior to entering the room.

When Naoki searched for an expression, she found none. All that she could see above his broad shoulders was a pointed mask covering the right half of his face. The other half was milky white, blending perfectly with the red mask covering his eye and cheek. His mouth, however, was left untouched, in a mix of red and white to create the darkest face imaginable.

"I see you've met my henchmen." He gestured to the doorway, presumably as a ruse for Naoki to turn around. She didn't budge. He finally seemed to notice her attacking stance. "Please, sit down. Can we not have a civilized conversation? Let's put this unwanted aggression behind us and talk like humans." Like before, Naoki refused to move. The masked man noted this.

All of a sudden, his pure white eye flashed red, and Naoki lost control of her body. With smooth and simple movements, she stood straight up, folded her legs and sat down. The man smiled, a twisted representation of how normal people would smile. It carved along his face, mixing with the red of his mask and the white of his face. "There, that's better." The man sat down himself. "Now that we have each other acquainted, let's discuss your son."

There was a sharp intake of air from Naoki. "I see you know him well. Now, according to my sources, your son is training with the masters of bending at Air Temple Island. I'm going to give them a slight problem."

"Now, don't worry, I won't kill him. Yet. And even when I do I must make sure I do it properly, so I don't have to chase him again. But I still have some other business to attend to. And once he finds out about some people with me, I won't have to go to him. He will come to me." And with that, the man abruptly left the room and the crack in the opposite wall closed behind him. The guards from before barged into the room and dragged Naoki away, but before the door could fully seal, she heard the remnants of a cackle, one she had heard before in Republic City's deepest underground triad.

* * *

Kai cracked one eye open. He couldn't remember anything after he hit his head on the ground, and his cranium pounded against his skull if he tried recollecting his memories.

He tried to get up, and fell down immediately. His hands were chained to a metal pole, which stretched upwards for almost 10 meters. As he looked around, he noticed Jinora and Tenzin imprisoned in a similar manner, Tenzin with a black eye and Jinora with a cut on her forehead that ran parallel to her tattoos. They were chained in a circular manner, so that each person was facing the two other two people evenly.

They were below ground, in a holding cell designed to restrict their airbending. Above them was a series of criss crossed metal bars, so that even if they did break free of their chains, they couldn't leave the cell. Food and water was thrown in from the side of the cell by carving out a hole just small enough to squeak the meals in, and then immediately closing the hole once the food was in the cell.

Kai blinked as he tried to figure out why he was in there. All he could remember was -

 _Flying._

 _Fire._

 _Pain._

 _Electricity._

Kai jerked around, his eyes opening. The last thing he could solidly remember was flying on Pepper, and seeing the airship. And far away in the distance, a city in the mountains…

* * *

Kun groaned. He had been battered the day before, through all of his exercises and activities that left him not much more than pure sore muscle. He rolled out of bed, and stood in the mirror. Hitting his head on the ground gave him a slight bruise on the right side of his head, but he felt stronger - and in more pain - than the day before.

And he felt wonderful. Because today was the day that he would take whatever measures it took to become an earthbender. His father's dreams, his mother's hopes and his own fantasies would all be accomplished today. After showering, eating and generally tidying himself up, he left the house, where Lin was waiting for him. She smirked. "You're up early, rookie. At least you're not waking the Southern Water Tribe with your bellowing like a sky bison." Kun blushed a little, and held out his hand for the pebble. Lin tossed him a pebble, and he caught it with a deft flick of his hand. "I guess I'm learning," Kun retorts.

Within a few hours, Kun was just as frustrated as the day before. He had spent the good majority of that time staring at one pebble for so long that he felt like it was a part of him. After seeing him rant and rave about the injustice of it all, Lin decides to sit him down, mainly to shut him up, but also, just to talk.

"Get your head in the game, rookie! This isn't some kind of tangible thing that you can just have because you're determined! You have to use your head about this! I can't believe that the safety of the world rests on your shoulders. Think straight, for spirits' sake!" With that, their talk was over. Lin begins to storm away from their training grounds.

Kun, feeling ridiculous, calls Lin back. "Wait, Lin, I have a question!" Lin turns around fast enough to give herself whiplash. "What is it?", she groans. Kun, swallowing his pride, probes further, "How did you become a metalbender?"

Lin, with her mouth open to snap at him, quietly retracts her venomous statement. She sighs, obviously struggling with herself, and then gestures for Kun to follow her. Kun follows her tracks to the hillside, where she is sitting towards Republic City. The Arena glows golden, and in the middle you can make out City Hall, wrapped in spirit vines from 13 years prior.

Lin spreads her arms. "My mother made this. Along with Aang, Zuko, Katara and Sokka, my mother was one of the leaders of the new world revolution. She wasn't the best mother, but she represented something I strive to be every single day of my life." She turns to Kun. She whispers, "Some would say I've made it. But some don't know the extent to which my mother was a part of the new world order. The first metalbender, the strongest earthbender of all time, the first and most successful Chief of Police…can one mortal accomplish all of that?"

Lin straightens, and continues in her normal voice. "I learned metalbending when I was 8. I was on my way home when I tripped on a rock and over a bridge. I tried to use my earthbending to save me, but a piece of metal just ripped itself out of the wall and grabbed me. I didn't even know I was bending it." She chuckles. "You hear the stories of how people get their bending through long journeys and trials of courage and whatnot, and I got my metalbending through tripping over a rock."

"But the point is that I wasn't thinking of anything else but what my mother would do. I've always thought of her as such a role model, that the first question that came to my mind was: 'What would mom do?' Of course, this was before I found out that my dad was a deadbeat druggie, and that my mom never told me about him. But for those few moments, it was my mother and how she would think of me that stimulated my bending." Lin gets up and moves to go inside. "Take that how you want, kid. Just remember: Your parents aren't the only ones here for you know. It's all of us. This was a good little talk."

Kun, who said not one word during the whole explanation and history, finally takes a long look at Republic City. Behind the city and the mountain, he sees a few small dots, that appear to be circling the mountainside. "Hey Lin!" In the distance, he hears a groan. "What is it now, kid? When I said we're here for you, I didn't mean right now!"

Kun had had enough. "Lin, get over here and see this right now!" Lin stopped halfway down the hill. "I don't care who you are, kid, but no rookie ever talks to me like that!" She raises her hands towards Kun. "You're about to get it!" Kun is waving his arms, shouting, "I don't care what you want to do to me later, but see this!"

Lin runs back up the hill, muttering, "These kids and their stupid imaginations. I should make you…" Her voice trails off as she peers into the distance, and the dawning realization is evident on her face. "Oh spirits…PEMA!" With one foot, Lin uproots and chucks a rock over the tree line towards the temple. Kun is taken aback. "What the - "

"Stay here, kid! This isn't the time to be brave! As for what you can do, you can alert the airbenders to get their butts over to Republic City!" With that, Lin jumps into the bay, and earth bends a rock bridge to Republic City. As she runs there, the bridge disintegrates after her.

Kun puts all of his energy into sprinting towards the temple. He gets there in record time, and barges through the doors to the men's dormitory. "Everyone, get outside! It's an emergency in Republic City! I repeat, an emergency in Republic City! Meelo, tell Pema and Ikki what's going on! Let's move it people!" Within minutes, the airbenders, a considerable number of which are advanced members of the nomadic culture, are flying over to Republic City.

Pema has stayed behind to take care of the children. "Kun, please help me get the children inside! Kun!" Kun is standing there, feeling helpless. His first task as the Avatar was to keep balance, and to do that he had to participate in the protection of the people. But for some reason, he couldn't even begin earthbending, let alone protecting people.

Pema comes up next to him. "Look, dear, I was around when Korra was feeling depressed after her fight with Zaheer, and I told her the same thing I will tell you now: 'If you want to stop moping about the past, build your future now.' Of course, it didn't help that she decided to leave us after that. But still", Pema says, taking Kun's hands in her own, "if you want to show the world that you're the real Avatar, you have to do something about it. Now go get them!"

Kun looks down at his nonbender hands. He recalls what Lin told him, about her mother, being a role model to Lin and so many others, and how his own father was such a powerful earthbender that even Lin Beifong recognized his description. With a deep breath, he ran to the hillside where he recognzied his own destiny, and without hesitation, dived headfirst into the water.

* * *

Lin finally reached the mainland, and was absolutely shocked to see the goings - on. Her police officers and the airbenders were in disarray, trying to coordinate action but failing miserably. Already, the buildings were in ruin and the enemies were taking advantage of their confusion.

The dots that Kun had noticed were really just gliders, much like the ones that Asami made for the airbenders. The small gliders could each hold a person, and were hands free, meaning that they could bend from their position, causing havoc while also being out of reach of the mostly grounded police force.

Lin snarled to herself, and leapt upwards towards two parallel flying gliders. With one shot from her coils of metal, she punctured both of their wings. Landing atop a building, she yelled down with her magnanimous voice, "Republic City Police and airbenders! I order you to unite and take down these gliders! Two people per glider! Take back our city!" The police force and airbenders cheered and begin following the gliders, rather than running from them. Within minutes, the gliding force is retreating, and the police begin to help those affected by the attack while the airbenders gave chase to the gliders.

Lin turns around to survey the damage, and sees two gliders with gold insignias on their wings charge towards her, blasting fire and rocks. Lin brings up a wall as a shield, and nullifies their attacks. The firebender yells to the earthbender, "Oh look at that, what do we have here? The late Chief of Police, waken up from her nap. We wouldn't want her to miss her beauty sleep, would we?"

Lin growls, "I'll show you who needs to go to sleep!" Propelling herself upwards with earthbending once more, Lin drags behind her a massive boulder and several other large stones uprooted from the ground. With two quick airborne punches, Lin throws the rocks at the offending gliders, who quickly veer away from the rocks. They both attempt to attack Lin, but her coils of rope and walls of rock prevent any lasting damage.

The fight continues for such a while, with both parties attacking each other but being too nimble, in the case of the gliders, or too defensive, in the case of Lin, to severely wound the other. That is, until the gliders separate, forcing Lin to defend from two angles. Their strategy worked. As Lin focused on the firebender's burning fireballs, the earthbender snuck behind her and was able to bypass her defenses.

Lin was struck by a rock square in the back and tumbled over her protective wall of rock, straight into a building. The gliders lowered until they were about 6 meters off of the ground. With a sneer on his face, the firebender began to blast a fireball towards Lin, but before anything could happen, a large rock was thrown at him. The firebender tumbled over and over down the road, his glider ripped to shreds and himself scraped up. Both the earthbender and Lin turned in the direction of the rock to see an amazing sight.

Kun stood there in his "ready" stance, prepared to attack the earthbender should the need arise, with a large indentation in the ground near him. Lin was outraged. "I told you to stay at the island! What are you doing here? How did you even get here?" Kun winked. "You're welcome Chief."

He turned back to the earthbender. "Now, are you going to leave or should I make you?" The earthbender laughed for a solid 10 seconds. "Aren't you the Avatar who can barely bend? Why should I leave?" Kun smiled a knowing smile. "I have my ways." With a wave of his hand upwards, a rock jutted out from the ground and punctured the glider's wings from behind, keeping it in place. And with a heel to the ground lifting up a large rock and a punch, the rock flew towards the earthbender, knocking him down the road to where his firebending friend was being arrested by the police.

Kun jogged over to Lin. "Are you okay? Do you need help?" Lin's mouth was hung open. "Did you just - how - when - " Kun's smile was infectious, and Lin couldn't resist reciprocating.

"That was some amazing bending," adding "for a rookie" under her breath. "It's all thanks to you. If you hadn't told me the story about your mother, I never would have been able to save you. I also have to thank my dad, for being such a father figure for 12 years that all it takes is me to think about him and I can earthbend," says Kun. "Here. Give me your arm." Kun carries Lin back to the shore of Republic City, with her arm over his shoulder.

* * *

The guard enters the elemental room, knowing full well that Arnaq could hear his every word. "The gliders did their job, sir. We got information about the new Avatar that confirms he was a nonbender until today. Additionally, he learned his earthbending from Lin Beifong, daughter of Toph Beifong. We believe that he will be taught by the masters of each element that reside in the world." Arnaq leans back in his chair, thinks to himself for a few moments, before formulating a plan and whispering, "Well then. This is an interesting development. I guess I should have a talk with his mother."

THE END

 **If you're an avid reader of fanon in the Korra subcategory, you might see a small reference that I made to the _Legend of Lin_ , written by **Leia Rayn Storm. **I was inspired by Lin's hard backstory, and tried to make it the focal point of Kun's bending. Please check out _Legend of Lin_ , it is a really fantastic series.**

 **I also apologize for the lack of humor in the first chapter, so I tried to make up for it here. I would have included some humor in the first chapter, but having the previous Avatar die is kind of a downer.**

 **However, my concept of humor is poor and probably is only funny for me.**

 **If you have any feedback, by all means, write a review or send a PM. I accept any criticism.**

 **Watch out for the third chapter in this series, "Breath of Fire", coming out on 11/11/16 or 11/12/16.**

 **Hope I see you again for Chapter 3!**


	4. Chapter 3: Breath of Fire

**Author's Note:**

 **This is Chapter 3 of my series. I think I like this the best out of all of them so far, and not just to toot my own horn (shameless plug). Below is some more information that you probably should read, but no one cares if you don't.**

 **Out of all my stories so far, this one is the most confusing to understand, and the time shifts are all over the place. However, at the end of the story, the time frames line up, so everything from here on out, unless in flashback form, will be aligned time - wise.**

 **When this goes live (11/11/16 or 11/12/16, this is being written on 10/20/16), I'll create a poll to see if you guys, who read my post, want me to keep the prologue in or, starting from the next episode, want a recap of what happened in the past episode(s).**

 **If you're reading this within two or three days of it being updated, then please go and vote in the poll. Just go to my profile and click on the link.**

 **That said, I hope you enjoy the third installation in "Kun: The New Avatar".**

Prologue:

It's been 10 years since Kuvira's defeat in Republic City. She was the fourth and most difficult of the villains that Avatar Korra had to battle since coming to Republic City. First came Amon, looking for equality between benders and nonbenders, then Unalaq, who wanted harmony between the spirits and the humans. Zaheer, who felt the world was too out of balance, and finally Kuvira, who wanted to unite the Earth Kingdom under one banner.

Each had a goal in mind: To better the world. All of them chose honorable problems to solve, but the saying "the end justifies the means" did not extend to these people.

After Kuvira was defeated, and locked away for good, each member of Team Avatar did their own work to preserve the new world peace and help the less fortunate make their mark on the world. Whether world missions or helping smaller towns get back on their feet, there was no job too small for Team Avatar in restoring world balance.

BOOK 1: RESTORATION  
EPISODE 3: BREATH OF FIRE

Dragons were some of the more majestic creatures that lived on the earth. Regal, graceful, the epitome of beauty, but at the same time powerful, dangerous and lacking restraint. Only with a steady hand and a trustworthy heart could one hope to tame and reciprocate a bond with one. The dragon genocide, along with the airbender genocide, was initiated by the Fire Nation, to prove one's worth, which, in retrospect to many Fire Nation soldiers, was a poor use of their time and an ill - fated result.

It is therefore much more ironic that the Fire Nation became the new trainers of dragons, with Fire Lord Zuko leading campaigns to rebuild the dragon population. Taking Shaw as his steed, one of the two firebending masters, Zuko managed to create a whole dragon population, gifting the firstborn of the two masters, Hotaru, to his daughter, Izumi.

Hotaru benefitted from being the product of the two most powerful firebending masters of all time. Within his first two years, he had already grown to the size of a full grown adult, something that took normal dragons 5 years to achieve. At his age of 56, he was almost as old as Izumi herself, but retained his fiery personality, as well as his close bond with Izumi.

It was on the back of the gigantic dragon that Izumi presented herself to Kun for the first time, flying into the airbending field on Air Temple Island. Hotaru was easily the length of a Republic City block, about 30 meters from the tip of his snout to the emblem of fire that blazed at the end of his tail. His eyes glowed green, a genetic byproduct of his parents, as well as his blue fire. Hotaru landed lightly in the middle of the airbending field, and down leapt Izumi.

Much like Tenzin and Lin, Izumi was in her mid to late sixties, retaining her figure as well as her bending prowess. With the death of her father, Zuko, the year prior, Izumi became the most powerful firebender in the world, and had previously been given the title of "master firebender" by none other than her father, one of the most gifted firebenders of all time.

She wore a long robe, indicative of her Fire Nation royalty descent, as well as her hair in a bun and the Fire Lady pin and crown through the hair at the top. Her hair was black - gray, a curious mix that reflected both her youthful spirit and her age in reality. Her eyes were also gray, hidden behind gold - rimmed spectacles. Even at her age, her posture was perfect and she exuded regality.

Such was the person that came to grace Kun by leaving her nation and teaching him the essentials of firebending: A matriarch of a whole race of people with a dragon as her steed. Even Agni, one of the rarest beings on the planet, was intimidated by the sheer size and power exuded by Hotaru. Oddly enough, to Agni, this meant intruding on the dragon's personality, even though the head of Hotaru alone was larger than the abnormally large winged fire horse.

Izumi stood a good 5 centimeters taller than Kun when she reached out a hand. Kun took it lightly, and without much force. "Thank you for teaching me, your highness. It is an honor to be in the presence of a true firebending master."

With those compliments, Izumi immediately began to soften, reciprocating, "The honor is truly mine, Avatar. Thank you for shouldering the burden the world has placed on you."

Izumi then turned to Lin. "Hello Lin," she said, in an icy cold voice. Lin's face hardened, and Kun could tell from weeks of training that something from her past was bothering her. It was the same clenching of her jaw, gritting of her teeth and the tightening of her fists that was displayed every time she talked about her deadbeat and worthless father. "Hello, Izumi. I see you've been busy at work in the Fire Nation."

Izumi glanced at her perfect nails. "Yes, I have been. I spent the last decade trying to fix the Earth Kingdom and the aftermath of your harebrained scheme to take down Kuvira, and you - " at this point Izumi inserts a short, condescending laugh - " - all you had to do was stay behind in Republic City and protect President Raiko. The one time he was attacked, you couldn't even protect him."

Lin growled, "Says the prissy queen, in her fancy palace! What a horrible life you must have had, living under the care of Fire Lord Zuko and having everything you ever wanted an inch away. Poor you." With a snarl, Izumi leaps back, fire blazing on her fingertips. In retaliation, Lin lifts a few fist - sized rocks.

Before either of them could initiate the first blow, a wall of rock separated them. They looked in amazement at Kun, who had erected the block of stone. "We have a huge problem! It's been 10 years since anything negative has happened in Republic City, and now, right after advanced gliding benders show up, you want to fight about the past? Get a hold of yourselves! We have a crisis at hand and we need to focus on that!"

Lin twitches in rage, causing her scar to perform acrobatics on her jaw. Izumi, always the more reserved one of the two, increased the intensity of the flames on her fingers, turning them almost pure white in rage. Oddly enough, it was Lin who first dropped the rocks, and apologized. "I guess we can leave the topic of our past for now, if we are to train Kun. Let's forget about it, _for the time being_." It was obvious that Lin was quite unhappy at the thought, but she relented, giving in the enormity of the danger before them.

Izumi retracted out of her fighting stance, and the flames on her fingertips died out. In unison, the two masters bowed to each other, and while neither of them accepted each other's presence, they begrudgingly respected each other, until the dangers had passed.

* * *

Kai is woken up from his uncomfortable position by the rattling of the metal baton on the metal bars on the top of the prison cell. A small hole in the earth of the cell appears to his right, and food is shoved in with earthbending. Almost immediately after the food is in the cell, the hole closes. Tenzin groans, evidently waking up as well, and turns to Kai.

Tenzin seemed to have aged 10 years since their capture about two weeks ago. His beard, once streaked with gray, had turned almost a solid shade of sheet metal. He hadn't shaved in such a long time that his head was beginning to sprout hair, and he was growing sideburns that stretched the craggy road up his jaw to his ear. His skull still had the nasty bruise from their ambush, but it had seemed to have stopped causing him pain and was more of a hallmark of their encounter in the sky. "The last time I felt this bruised, Zaheer wanted to kill Korra," he groaned.

Kai turns slightly to his left, and sees Jinora also waking up from her slumber. The cut that she received from the ambush seemed to have healed, but she was still very weak and tired. She had been sporadically waking up throughout the night, and was able to eat, but she had been considerably weakened by the attack. Tenzin, in hushed whispers to Kai, had mentioned how her random lapses of consciousness might be a journey into the Spirit World, but, Kai thought to himself, it could also be the by - product of hitting her head when they landed.

Kai, in his wildly restrictive position, managed to get a foot around to the bowl of rice and kicked it over to Tenzin. Airbender policy outlawed the disrespect of the most important essentials, food being very high on the list, and Kai was loathe to break such a sacred tradition. However, not once in the airbending scriptures did the old masters mention protocol while handcuffed to a metal pole in imprisonment, so Kai - and, begrudgingly, Tenzin - decided that all rules were moot at this point.

Even at the blistering age of 65, and in the face of imminent imprisonment unto his death, Tenzin kept true to all of his airbending physiques, the most importan, right now, being his flexibility. Tenzin was able to bend over into such a pretzel that even though the bowl was on the floor, he was still able to eat from it. And he remained in that position for two minutes, devouring the rice as quickly as he could.

When he was finished, a messy Tenzin blew the bowl to Jinora, who was just waking up. Her intelligence still going strong, while Jinora ate, with the bowl on her lap, thought of a way to escape the dungeon.

Kai, the strongest of the trio currently, put his head back on the pole that he was handcuffed to. He closed his eyes, trying to recall what happened the night of their abduction. He couldn't remember much, other than their capture and being brought to a city in the Northern Earth Kingdom.

Tenzin was also doing his own thinking. He had figured out the schedules of the guards around their cell, and from that, had created a plan. After a few minutes of eating for the 3 of them, along with some fancy airbending for the water, Tenzin waited for the guard to leave, and then laid out his plan.

"Firstly, what we need to do is get out of these chains. Hopefully, they don't have an alarm in place, but if they do, this is what I want us to do. We have to airbend out of the cell." Tenzin's voice was raggedy, but even hushed voices couldn't suppress the ridiculousness presented in his plan.

"That's crazy talk, Tenzin. How are we going to do that?" asked Kai. Jinora nodded her head. In a weak voice, she whispered, "I can barely bend, and you're not in the best shape either, Dad."

Tenzin nods to himself, as if the protest was exactly what he was hoping for. "Then, in order to improve ourselves as airbenders, we must focus our energy within, and meditate. Only then can we unlock all the spiritual abilities that have been given as benders."

Kai looked to Jinora, and then asked Tenzin the big question: "Are you sure it will work?" In response, Tenzin let out a big sigh and said, "I'm not sure. But we have all the time in the world right now. And if Zaheer can master flight with a few weeks of practice, I am sure that we can achieve greater feats with the time and opportunity granted to us." And with that, Tenzin remained silent, crossed his legs, and entered his meditative state.

Jinora shrugged and followed suit. For Kai, it was a much more difficult experience, as he had not been born an airbender, but he too, began to slow down his breathing and practiced his bodily control. His ability to remain seated in one place was great, but his spiritual connection - as a result of being an airbender not through birth, but by chance - meant that he would have to work harder to espace from the prison. It would be a long week for the airbenders.

* * *

Izumi insisted on beginning training that day, even though Kun complained of being tired. Although she taught Kun the entire day, Lin agreed to Izumi's proposal. "You need to be tough, kid. Even in the middle of the night, you have to be completely prepared for attack. Now get out there and show me that you can firebend!"

Izumi took position opposite Kun in the airbending field. Even after the heavy earthbending that took place on the same field earlier that day, it was completely smooth, probably thanks to Lin. Kun again marveled at the continuous stream of energy that Lin had: not only did she train earthbending with Kun, but at her age, she also was able to bend earth in ways he could never imagine, such as replicating the designs of the air nomads in the field. On top of that, the fact that she could still insult him and threaten violence left Kun mentally shaking his head and physically preparing himself for a beating from both Izumi and Lin.

"Fire is the element of the breath. Your breath becomes the energy in your body, that extends past your limbs and becomes fire. My great - uncle Iroh used that teaching method for my father, Fire Lord Zuko. It took a long time to sink in, but eventually, Zuko understood. Firebending is one of the few bending techniques that is not reliant solely on your physical strength. Your spiritual strength matters just as much - maybe even more. And that is why the Avatar has had huge success in learning firebending in past - your spiritual connection to fire has made it easy for you to grasp the concept."

Kun took time to process this information. He knew that Izumi came from a long line of proficient firebenders, who controlled the Fire Nation for centuries. She must know more about the element of fire than him. Yet, Kun couldn't help but doubt her sayings.

Izumi smiled a little, letting her hard shell of emotional impermeability break a little. "I see you are struggling with the prospects. Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko faced the same problem after my father was accepted to the Avatar's team. They journeyed to the realm of the Sun Warriors, and learned the true meaning of fire. While we don't have the time, I will impart you with this knowledge: Our strength, both physical and spiritual, comes from our family. Thanks to my father, I have been able to experience more spiritual power, and believe me, it makes a difference."

Kun takes a deep breath and tries his hardest to find the spiritual energy within himself. Unfortunately, because his connection to Raava was not a result of his birth, he was not in tune with the spiritual world, at least not as much as he needed. Not being a natural firebender, compounded with the fact that he wasn't a true Avatar, meant that it was next to impossible for him to create so much as a puff of smoke, forget any true fire at all.

Izumi's voice cut through his meditation. "I want to you to spend a few more seconds finding the fire within you, and exhale when you think you have found it. At that moment, I will instruct you to fire, no pun intended. Get into a low stance, extend your dominant arm, and let loose the raging fire within you. Understand?" Kun nodded, a slight jerk of his head that indicated that he was as prepared as could be for his task. After no more than ten seconds, he exhaled, a mighty breath that allowed his lungs to gain the air necessary for his attack.

"NOW!" Kun settled into his stance, a low tiger position that he had seen others get massive power from. His right arm cocked, he punched the air, hoping to Raava that his spiritual energy would help him. Keeping his eyes closed, he heard a loud grunt, accompanied by the sound of fire blazing. Kun opened his eyes, and expected a scorch mark on the field or the feeling of heat in his body.

Neither happened. All Kun saw was a trail of rocks directed towards Izumi, a scattershot of stones pointing out of the ground. At the very end sat an indentation, about where Izumi was standing before Kun closed his eyes. Izumi herself was about 5 feet back, and assorted bits of flaming rock were lying around her.

"What happened?" Kun asked.

Izumi smiled bitterly. "Well, it seems my old friend Lin needs to tone down a bit on your earthbending training."

* * *

In the middle of the night, Naoki was woken up from her cell by the incessant clicking of boots outside of her prison cell in the mountainside. She instantly woke up, recognizing the boots to be that of the man in the robe. Not more than two seconds after she had woken up completely, the man entered the room, fully assured in his ability to control her if need be. "Hello there. May I sit down?"

Naoki growled and lunged at the man, but he simply clicked his tongue and shook his head. Just like before, Naoki quickly lost control of her body, and with slow and steady movements, she was forced into a sitting position.

The man tutted. "As long as you want to be aggressive, we will have to have this routine. Now - " at this, the man reclined into a sitting position in midair " - let's talk about your son. Again, my supporters will not kill him, or even seriously harm him. There's always the chance that he might perish from his wounds, and then I would have to begin my search anew in the Fire Nation, the most impermeable of all the major world powers."

The man readjusted himself, as if he was actually seated on a piece of furniture. He continued, "Therefore, it will be my goal for the next few months to cause him unbearable pain, one that he cannot recover from. I have studied the past work of those who opposed the Avatar, but be assured, my punishment will be much more severe than Zaheer's."

Naoki's eyes are wet, and her voice is choked with emotion. "Why? What could drive you to such a goal?", she whispers. Again, the masked man readjusted himself before answering. "Amon had it right, you know. Equality is lacking in this world, and I have taken it upon myself to right the wrong caused by bending imbalances."

He stood up, towering over the seated Naoki. "You may be wondering why I am giving you this information. It is because you will never be able to tell anyone what you have heard today, or any other day in which I wish to speak to you. And remember, this is a luxury I provide. If you wish to be as arrogant as you have been our last two meetings, even these pockets of information may be lost to you, and you will spend the rest of your life not knowing what may have happened to your precious son."

The masked man left, letting the door crash in on itself without stopping it, and he turned around through the metal, he almost could catch the faint sound of Naoki sobbing.

* * *

Izumi and Kun joined the rest of the airbending family - minus, noticeably, Tenzin, Jinora and Kai - along with Lin, who had been an honorary member of the family since her semi - permanent move to the Temple in order to train Kun.

Izumi felt much more at home in such an open family than at her own palace in the Fire Nation - it was beneficial being with her father, yes, but since his death, there was no one to have a conversation with, aside from her cold guards.

She suspected that both Lin and Tenzin felt the same way, since the world had heard of the shock of having 3 of its most glorious bending leaders pass last year. It would also explain why Lin remained at the temple much more recently than ever before.

It was Kun who began the conversation. "So, Izumi, how have things been in the Fire Nation, since - uh - " She cuts in. "Since my father's death?"

Kun gulped a hard rock down his throat. "Uhh, yes?"

Izumi nodded, and replied, "It's okay. I have had the time to recuperate, and it's not like we were estranged. My father was a large part of my life, but he was prepared for his passing. To answer your question, I have held the reins of my nation for a long time. It has not been adversely affected by his death."

Lin snorted into her fly - chicken broth. "Leave it to Izumi to not be grieving over her father's death." Izumi, in response, straightened in her seat, and delivered a cold reply: "And I'm sure you were positively broken up over Toph's death."

A large fist came down on the table, and everyone was surprised to see it was Kun's. "Like I said outside, we need to focus on the big picture. Or do I need to remind the two of you what's at stake here? I may not be the strongest bender here, or the smartest mind, but I've learned one thing in the swamp: You have to be prepared for everything that may come your way. And it seems like the two of you have forgetting that little tidbit."

Meelo, Ikki and Rohan shot daggers at Kun, mentally warning him to shut his mouth, while Pema fearfully looked between Lin and Izumi, no doubt awaiting a firestorm from the two of them. However, nothing volatile happened.

Lin's mouth, prepared to deliver a venomous retort no doubt, shut itself with a snap. Izumi, not frazzled at all by Kun's authority, continued eating her soup. Lin growled, "I can't believe that you support her" and left without finishing her soup.

Kun looked at Izumi, to his right, and asked her point - blank, his burning question he had since she arrived: "What could have happened between you two that makes you such big enemies?"

Izumi sighs. "Lin has, and always will be, slightly jealous of me. You see, I grew up in a palace, given everything to me on a silver platter, while Lin grew up with a single mother and a hateful father. As we grew older, we were both prodigies in our respective bending elements, but we used to be friends until Su left. Ever since then, there's been somewhat of a rift between us, since Lin became more reserved and hardened, and it finally came to a head about 10 years ago."

"Many people wondered why the Fire Nation, the most powerful nation on the planet, would not assist in the opposition of Kuvira's army. I reasoned that the Fire Nation needed to protect its citizens, and because we spent 100 years in a pointless war that scarred the world. Obviously, Lin thought otherwise. She accused me of being selfish, and for not caring for the people of the Earth Kingdom. I retaliated. It…shouldn't have gone as far as it did. Lin and I have been enemies ever since."

Izumi abruptly gets up, and leaves the dining room, trying to hide her tears. She tries to trace Lin for about half an hour, before finding her on the hillside, facing Republic City. "Lin?"

Lin, apparently not recognizing Izumi behind her, whispers to herself, "All of this, almost lost. Why?" Izumi creeps closer to Lin. "Lin? Hello, Lin, are you there?"

All of a sudden, Lin leaps up the air, propelled by an outcropping of rock. She lands, facing Izumi, and growls, "You put my entire family and all of my friends in danger 10 years ago. I could never forgive you." And, upon finishing the sentence, Lin attacked Izumi with a ferocity she never saw from the metalbender.

* * *

It had been many days since Tenzin and Jinora begun their meditation, and Kai had soon found himself in the spiritual sense. He settled into a meditative pose, mimicking Tenzin and Jinora, and remained in that position for hours in a day. Because of the lack of connection between himself and the spiritual world, Kai contented himself with reviewing every single major event in his lifetime since joining Team Avatar, in hopes that his spirituality would find him.

The first thing he could remember was being captured in Ba Sing Se. Kai had experienced oppression before, but he had always been led to believe that Ba Sing Se was a changed city. Less anarchy and more about helping the people. Of course, it was riddled with corruption, and he was conscripted into the Airbender Regiment that the Queen had ordered.

Then came the attack on the Northern Air Temple. Kai remembered his attempt at leading the group, but also distinctly his feeling of fear and loss when he was struck down by P'li, the combustionbender.

Finally, he remembered his role in the attack on Kuvira's army. His role had been minor in the overall scheme, but he performed well, and drawing Kuvira's fire as others dealt damage was integral in protecting those who were actually going to damage the giant robot.

As Kai sifted through his memories, some pridefully and very many others fearfully, he understood who he was as a person. As Tenzin always said, understanding yourself is the key to spirituality, and meditation simply provides the lock. Kai knew that he was a different person now, after training with Tenzin, befriending the Avatar and most importantly, meeting Jinora.

As he came to this realization, he felt a tugging behind his navel, and found he could no longer feel the metal under him. As he opened his eyes in shock, he saw that both Tenzin and Jinora were levitating, obviously a product of their own spiritual journey.

Tenzin broke out into a huge smile, contrasted sharply by his age, and the pure gray of his beard. "Now, Kai, we are ready to plan our escape."

* * *

Long coils of metal extended from Lin's belt, shooting out towards Izumi. At the same time, she kicked out with her legs, sending a stone flying towards Izumi, leaving her to deal with multiple threats. However, Izumi herself was no pushover. With expert grace, she dodged the stone, her dress flapping in the process, and used her extreme heat to burn through the coils of rope.

Advancing, Izumi counterattacked, kicking out with her legs in a show of almost Zuko - like firebending. A series of fireballs and streams of fire ejected from her fingertips and feet, directing themselves at Lin. Lin snarled, and raised a wall of rock, designed to absorb the blast of the fire. Using the heatened rock, she fashioned a massive boulder, and using all her might, she threw it at Izumi.

"I SAID STOP!"

A roaring fireball came blazing out of thin air and, with extreme precision, struck the rock dead center. The flaming stone shattered in midair, raining down burning hot pieces of rock near Lin and Izumi. They turned over to see which firebender was attacking them, but they saw Kun, incredulous, looking at his right arm.

"All I was doing was trying to earthbend…and…"

Izumi's mouth twisted into a wry smile. "What I said before - about fire being based on spiritual energy - might not always be right. My father knows firsthand that fire is also spurred from emotion."

Izumi also took this opportunity to talk to Lin. "Lin, what I was trying to say before was - I'm sorry. I should have supported you when you needed me, and I shouldn't have let our old squabbles come in the way of my help. Aside from training the Avatar, the main reason I accepted Tenzin's call to be Kun's teacher was to reconcile with you. And just know that I will be right by your side whenever you need me to be."

Lin took a deep breath and nodded. "I guess I kind of overreacted. I've had so many memories with my friends, that if anything happened, I wouldn't have forgiven myself. Besides," and here Lin smirked, "I'm getting too old for this."

* * *

The masked man took a look at the camera in Naoki's room. It showed that she was sleeping, and as there was nothing much for her to do in the cell, that was a reasonable thing to do. He switched his gaze to the screen showing the airbenders from an aerial view, directly over the cell, and they appeared to be sleeping as well. However, out of nowhere, the elderly male airbender began to rise, followed immediately by the young female, and the adolescent male.

The masked man readjusted his mask, making sure to cover his face precisely the way he had for the last 10 years. "Well, that's an interesting development," he murmured to himself. He pressed a button on the console in front of him that led directly to his captain's quarters. "Captain! Rise and shine, sir, and begin your attacks on the Water Tribe and the Fire Nation. Our schedules have been changed slightly."

The captain, still groggy from his nap, mumbled, "And you, sir?"

The masked man smiled, a grotesque movement of his face even more horrendous than the last time he smiled. "Why, I think I should pay our guest a visit."

* * *

It had been about 10 days since Izumi had come to Air Temple Island, and in that time, Kun had become a truly fierce earthbender and firebender.

Lin and Izumi created a schedule for his training, and many times had him spar with both of them at the same time. Kun left the trading session in pain and heavily bruised, especially from the sparring session, but his skill was improving day by day. While at the beginning, Kun was barely able to create much more than a fireball, by day 10 with Izumi, he could shape and bend fire at his will, and his intensity had increased as well. Avatar Aang took 9 months to master the 3 elements, but Kun seemed to be progressing much faster.

Until the eleventh day. Izumi was just waking up, and preparing the day's session, which began with some light earthbending practice and devolved into a mixed earth - and - fire training session with Kun having to focus on two attackers at once. However, Izumi's plan was cut short by a message on the radio. It was from the Fire Nation.

Within minutes, Izumi had dressed herself and gone to Kun and Lin, who already had begun the day's training.

Kun, already somewhat sore, greeted Izumi as she hurried down the steps to the training field. "Izumi, what's the rush? We have a day of training planned."

Izumi, a little breathless, managed to squeeze out, "The Fire Nation is under attack by rebels, and from the looks of it, they're not as disorganized as the other bandits we've had to deal with. They're the real deal."

Lin, lightning fast in her calculations, set out the following plan. "Izumi, you have to go back to the Fire Nation. Go as soon as you can. Kun, Mako has already finished his task that I sent him on, so he can come tomorrow to teach you firebending. He isn't as good as Izumi, but he's no slouch. We'll have fun."

Kun nodded, and started bouncing on the balls of his feet, preparing himself for more earthbending. Meanwhile, Izumi raced down to the sky bison stables, where she could see that Hotaru was bonding well with Oogy, Tenzin's sky bison. Tenzin opted out on choosing Oogy because of his old age, as sky bison generally don't live as long as their masters. However, Oogy did remind Izumi of something she wanted to mention to Lin.

"Hey, Lin, where's Tenzin? He should have been back from his mission a few days ago, no?"

Lin popped her head over the brush that separated the training field and the stables. "No idea. Most likely it's just taking a long time, but even for Tenzin, this job should have been over soon. If he takes any longer than a week, we'll start looking for him."

Izumi nodded, and jumped onto Hotaru, who roared into the sky, delighted at being able to fly once more. Izumi took off in the Western direction, and left behind Air Temple Island. No sooner had she disappeared than Pema appeared at the door to the training field. "Tonraq's on the line! He has some troubling news about his journey!"

Lin jogged over to the radio, and picked up the phone. "What's the problem, Tonraq?"

Tonraq's gruff voice could be heard over the line, even though the connection in the middle of the ocean was not the best. "I can't come to Kun's training for the next few days. There have been some orchestrated attacks on the Southern Pole, and there's nothing my soldiers can do about it. I'm going to have to stay there for a while."

Lin gritted her teeth, finally understanding the nature of the attacks. "All right, do your thing Tonraq. Try to get here as soon as possible. Hopefully, Mako and I can keep Kun busy on the training side for the next few days. Good luck."

Tonraq closed the line, with a brusque "Good luck to you too" and a click on his end. Lin called out to Kun, "Training's over for a while! Take a break," and rubbed her temples. She knew exactly what the problem was, but she would need some time to call in some favors from Zaofu, from Bolin and especially from Opal. Hopefully, she could sort this out before it went too far, but Lin knew firsthand the chances of that happening.

Lin looked to the sky and whispered, "Mom, I really need you right now." She closed her eyes, and a tear trickled down her face. She lowered her head, and trudged inside to make some calls.

THE END

 **Again, please make sure to check my poll out, so that I can make better fanons for you guys and not have you read the prologue every single time.**

 **This story is one of shorter ones, but it's still pretty sizeable. However, the main cause is that I compressed what I wanted to say in much shorter and concise language than what I was expecting. I think I did better at weaving in past conflicts with present feelings than in Chapter 2, but you be the judge.**

 **Again, I accept all criticism, so please send it my way. I know I'm not the best writer, and I would really like to improve myself.**

 **There isn't much else to say, except be waiting in on 11/25/16 or 11/24/16 for Chapter 4, "The City Underground".**

 **Hope you have a great day, and happy writing!**


	5. Chapter 4: The City Underground

**Author's Note:**

 **This is the fourth installment in the "Kun: The New Avatar" series. This, like the previous one, has some length problems, but it is jam - packed with action and escapades, if you read the last chapter.**

 **If you haven't, then that's okay. This is the first chapter that is affected by the results of the polls two weeks back, and while I won't reveal the result now (since I don't know what it is yet; written on 10/25/16) it is quite obvious in the first few paragraphs.**

 **Also, this is the first chapter where the use of the "T" rating really comes into effect. There is some shock torture in here (nothing sexual, purely vindictive and evil) and some description of pain. If you are squeamish, I suggest you don't read this and just read the summary for this chapter in the next one.**

 **I hope you enjoy, especially if you've stayed past that warning.**

Previously, on _Kun: The New Avatar_ :

Izumi arrived at Air Temple Island, to teach Kun in the ways of firebending, but she and Lin shared some past history. Lin was angry at Izumi's refusal to help protect the city in the fight against Kuvira 10 years ago, and they dueled on the hillside. However, it was Kun who remained the peacekeeper, when he developed his firebending in an effort to stop their battle.

Tenzin proposed a theory to escape from their prison, but they would have to meditate in order to gain the energy and skills necessary. Jinora and Tenzin were easily able to do it, but it took Kai much longer to find himself spiritually. However, when he did, he realized that he was totally prepared to try and escape.

The masked man gives more information to Naoki about his plan to defeat Kun. He explains that he won't kill or even severely injure Kun if he is able to, he will simply incapacitate him in enough pain to make him useless. Finally, the masked man says that Naoki is only being given this information out of the goodness of his heart. If she continues to act aggressive or insubordinate, he will cut off the supply forever, leaving her to think about what happened to her son for the rest of her life in the cell.

BOOK 1: RESTORATION  
EPISODE 4: THE CITY UNDERGROUND

Pema missed the days of the past decade when she could wake up to a normal household, filled with airbenders, yes, but that didn't shake from the rocks thrown at it. And she absolutely detested the firebending. It ruined her flower garden every single day, although it never seemed to damage the airbender fruits and vegetables that they grew.

Nevertheless, just like every morning since Lin arrived, Pema awoke to the shaking of the temple, loud grunts from outside and the largest sounds made in Republic City since Unalaq tried to destroy the world. Her hair still frazzled, she walked over to the used her "mother" voice to try and silence Kun and Lin.

"CAN YOU PLEASE BE QUIET DOWN THERE? SOME OF US NEED OUR SLEEP!"

Startled by the yelling, Kun dropped a gigantic stone right onto Pema's flowers, and looked up at her with a weak smile. Groaning, Pema retracted her head, and began the slow walk down the stairs into the surprisingly empty dining pavilion.

Pema looked around startled. Ikki poked her head into the pavilion, and saw her mother. Dressed in normal airbender robes, with the head of her arrow tattoo poking out of her hairline, she tugged on Pema's sleeve. "Mom, come on! Mako's sailing into the harbor, and it's been a while since we've seen him!"

Pema ran outside, completely forgetting she had just woken up. Every single airbender at the island, totaling over 150 airbenders, were waiting at the dock for Mako. And they were not disappointed.

In a subtle ship made solely for journey in the bay, Mako docked at the harbor. Tying it down, he jumped off. Clad in a police outfit solely for detectives, Mako was one of the highest ranking police officers, reporting only to Chief Lin Beifong. His scarf was around his shoulder, courtesy of the chief, and he was wearing loose pants and combat boots.

Trained for years by a member of the triads, as well as being a pro bender, had shaped Mako up quite nicely. He retained that physique into his thirties, keeping in shape in his fancy apartment. Even though he was called on the odd mission around the world with the airbenders, Mako sticked to his job as a police officer, and was one of Beifong's best.

Lin stood at the top of the hill. "Looking good, Mako! Get your sorry butt up here! It's time to train."

Mako smiled, and began jogging up the hill, followed by the airbenders.

Kun walked up to Mako. They were about the same height, eye to eye. Kun, as an earthbender, reminded Mako of Bolin, off somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. However, his physique was more suited for someone of Mako's style of bending. As such, Mako felt the need to train him as he himself was taught.

Kun extended his hand, saying, "It's an honor to meet you, Mako. You're a legend. I'm proud to say I've known someone who saved the world - four times." Mako chuckled a bit at that statement, responding, "Korra did most of the work."

Kun's face instantly fell, before mumbling, "About that, uhhh - I'm sorry. I should have done more to save Korra." Mako patted Kun on the shoulder. "I'm sure you tried your best. And if it wasn't for you, then there wouldn't even be an Avatar. We are all proud, and thankful, that you were there when it went down. Now - " Mako's eye twinkled - " let's get down to business."

* * *

Tenzin woke up first, on the day that they had planned, completely prepared. For the past few weeks, he had trained spiritually for this very moment. He was completely in control of his airbending, more so than he would like to admit, and practiced his meditative exercises to prepare himself.

Across from him, Kai was just waking up, groggy as could be. Kai didn't look as grimy as Tenzin himself, due to his darker skin, but his clothes were torn from the attack. Next to Tenzin, Jinora was also waking up. She looked much healthier, obviously a product of the spiritual enlightenment they all experienced a few weeks back, and had been honing her skills mentally ever since.

They all took some time to freshen up, eat, drink and generally prepare themselves. Tenzin closed his eyes, and said, "We have five minutes. In five minutes, the guard above us will leave, and that is when we will strike. Prepare yourselves."

The clock ticked by with immense sluggishness, giving all of them time to process their possibility of escape. The adrenaline began to rush through their body, leaving a chill through their bodies. In their meditation, they began to hope for the best, while making sure that they were completely ready.

Above them, the guard's boots clinked. Tenzin whispered, "Wait for my signal." The consistent "ping" from the metal slowly began to fade, and just as they were too far away to be heard, Tenzin whispered, "Now!"

All 3 of them, simultaneously, began to stretch and pull their chains, ripping them right out of the pole. Even though they had been practicing and preparing for this one moment, they all took a second to marvel at their prowess.

Thankfully, for them, they had weakened the links to a point where they didn't make much much noise when they were jerked off of the pole. However, the grate above their head would be a different matter. Jinora asked, "Dad, what are we going to do about that?"

Tenzin, instead of proposing a plan, began his breathing exercises. Kai looked on in confusion, but Jinora knew what he was doing, as her understanding dawned on her face and she broke out into a smile. Tenzin grunted, "The instant I break this, you two have to be prepared to airbend your way out of this room." Kai responded, "How do you plan on breaking the bars?"

Tenzin, instead of giving a direct response, collected small balls of air in his hand. With one swift move, he jumped up towards the bars, using the balls of air to push against the criss crossed bars. With a final grunt, he pushed upwards on the airbender proof bars and knocked them off of their hinges, finally flinging it towards the ceiling of their cell.

Kai and Jinora launched themselves up with their airbending, completely prepared to face any and every guard that entered through the door. Tenzin launched himself up behind them, and charged the door, blasting it open with his bending.

The halls were a peculiar mix of earth and metal, with the floors they ran on pure steel, but the walls were made of tightly packed soil and dirt. It was so precise, that it could have only been accomplished by earthbending, and Tenzin made note of this as they ran heater - skelter down the halls.

Generally they were able to defeat any group of guards, benders or not, even though they hadn't practiced their bending in a long time. Apparently, their spiritual journey allowed them to retain full bending ability, even after being restricted for a long time.

They ran with no clear idea of where they were running until they reached a solid wood door. There was nothing ornamental about it, but regardless, Tenzin looked shocked, and yet went up to the door, using his airbending to push against the door. It creaked open, and he stepped inside.

"What's up with him?", Kai asked. Jinora shrugged. "He's seen a lot of things in the past few years, and this may be one of them. If it is, though, we have to get out quickly." From inside, they very nearly heard Tenzin go pale and whisper "Oh no, not him" before bolting out of the room and yelling, "Follow me! We have to get out of here!"

Without hesitation, Kai and Jinora immediately followed behind Tenzin's billowing robe. They ran with no direction for a few more minutes, before stopping in a large hall with a multitude of doors facing the center of the room, on the opposite end of which was a door with light visible on the other side. All of a sudden, guards, both benders and nonbenders began to stream into the chamber, using their bending or physical prowess to attack the airbenders.

Tenzin, Jinora and Kai gritted their teeth, not giving up without a fight. Kai used his athleticism to dodge the pieces of earth and rock thrown at him, while blasting each offending party with air. Tenzin airbent a rim of air, using it to travel around the room and try to clear the room of guards. Jinora also helped, by leaping up around the room and protecting Kai and Tenzin from unsuspecting guards.

Even for the three masters, the consistent influx of guards became too much. Jinora was forced to stay grounded as earthbenders began attacking her from the ground. Kai was unable to dodge all of the stone thrown at him and was hit multiple times. And Tenzin, looking at how poorly equipped the three of them were to escape, hung his head in defeat, allowing himself to be captured.

* * *

Luckily for the masked man, the bars narrowly missed the camera he placed on top of their cell. He peered into the screen as they leaped out of their confined space. And he almost smiled when they ran out of the room and into the hallways.

His captain stood behind him. "Your orders on detaining them, sir?" The masked man waved his hand. "Tell your men to stand down. The ones on patrol will be a good test of their skills."

As he watched their journey in the halls through his multitude of screens, especially their speed in dealing with the guards, the masked man could not hide his surprise. Here were 3 airbenders, trapped in a confined space for a month, that were able to defeat dozens of guards within minutes of their escape.

They reached his main room, the so - called elemental room. It somewhat amused the man that he was sitting close to 10 meters from Tenzin's current position. Watching Tenzin go pale as he gazed around the room almost made his squirm with pleasure. And watching Tenzin run out of the room in more of a rush than he left his cell almost made him laugh out loud.

Finally, they entered his circular room. He was honestly intrigued at how well they performed as a team. He would have to try out some of their moves in his practice. But inevitably, they failed to escape from the room. For some reason, the man wanted them to leave, to surpass his expectations. But, like all the others, they failed to leave the circular room.

* * *

Mako lowered his arms. They had been practicing Kun's firebending for the entire day, and both of them were tired. Mako found that Kun's style had gradually gone from defensive to offense based, with quick attacks.

He also noted the similarities between Bolin's and Kun's earthbending. Even though Kun's body type was more related to Mako's, he still kept with the high defense position of Bolin. In this, Mako found him to be quite the opposite of Korra, who was very aggressive with her earthbending.

As Kun took a break, Mako walked over to him. "Hey, we've been working pretty hard for a long time now. You want to take an extended break into the city?"

Kun is surprised on the inside that Mako would like to do something with him, Kun scratched his head in thought. "I don't know. I haven't been off the island ever since I got here, and I wouldn't want to disappoint the others."

Mako slung an arm around Kun's neck. "Don't worry about it. It's only for one night, and you deserve the break. Besides, I'm a police officer. Do you really think anything's going to happen?"

Kun, reassured by Mako's statements of authority, nods his head in excitement. "Then it's settled. Let's show you around Republic City."

* * *

Naoki woke up, startled, for the third time that night. Like always, it had been about Kun, but this time, she had a recollection to 20 years ago, that night that she left Republic City for good…

 _Naoki looked at Saan, knowing that this may have been the last time that they saw their children, who were walking between them. The plan had been a quickly devised one, so that they could leave the city. Unfortunately, they weren't able to take their children out of harm's way._

 _The wheels had already begun rolling, and there was no backing out. Naoki quickly pulled everyone quickly into an alley, from a speeding Satomobile down the road. She almost breathed a sigh of relief._ Everything was going according to what they had discussed. _All of a sudden, she heard the unmistakeable sound of a knife scraping out of its sheath._

 _She whirled around, to see Saan in combat with another man. Even though she knew this was a part of the escape, she still screamed and cried, to make it as realistic as possible. The knife plunged into Saan's kidney, and he dropped like a brick onto the attacker._

 _The knife was a fake, folding easily into the handle. But the children didn't know that. Naoki ran towards the man, hoping to put on a show. He did not disappoint. With a deft flick, he stabbed her in the heart, wherein she crumpled to her knees and fell forwards, nearly face to face with Saan._

 _The man with the knife sheathed it and easily picked up the couple, slinging one over each shoulder. As Naoki looked back, she could see her children crying and scared. With a heavy heart, she dropped her head, only to hear the pitter - patter of their shoes as they ran away, never knowing that it was all a ruse. Naoki knew she would never see them again._

Naoki screamed internally. She had almost lost two children to the same man who was going to take away her third son. And the worst part was that she could do nothing about it. There was once a time when she could have, but she had lost all her skills. She didn't even know if she could firebend anymore…

* * *

Mako and Kun walked the busy streets of the marketplace. Kun noticed nearly everything, but it was more of an amazed observation than anticipatory.

Mako chuckled at Kun's naiveté and did some observation for himself. As a police officer, his type of observation - at least in a very familiar location - fell more into the category of anticipatory.

Firstly, they went to City Hall, a majestic building larger than any Kun had seen thus far. He desperately wanted to meet President Konna, whom he had been told was two years into his administration, but Mako restrained him. "The President is dealing with pretty important issues. Even as high up as I am, I can't even hear about what's happening in there."

Mako then took Kun to the Arena for pro bending, where he lived for a few months as a probender. Of course, he gave that occupation up when he decided to be a police officer, and because his travels around the world severely affected his ability to compete. Truth be told, his new job was affected in nearly the same way, but here he had a boss who understood his needs.

They walked for a bit, down some alleyways, Mako using Kun's interest in the city to scout some locations that he would need to look at later for his job. It was getting pretty late, and Kun, in his infinite subtlety, said, "Mako, this has been great. But can we go home now? I'm sure they're looking for us, and Lin is not going to be happy."

Mako turned around slightly. "Just one more thing, kiddo. Then we're heading home. Besides, did you remember what I said on the island? I'm one of the highest ranking police officers. Nothing in this city would dare do anything to me."

As if waiting for Mako's exemplary arrogance to raise its ugly head, as soon as Mako's voice finished echoing off of the hollow walls of the alley, two small dart shots were heard, hitting Kun's and Mako's neck at nearly the same time. The both of them crumpled to the ground, and the shadows of nearly a dozen men appeared from behind crates and boxes.

* * *

Tenzin cracked open his eyes. Unlike the last time he found himself chained in a room with no exit, he was not in pain or any severe discomfort. In fact, he felt spiritually cleansed and ready to fight. Unfortunately, the aforementioned chains restricted his movement and suspended him in midair by each of his limbs.

Also unlike the last time he woke up, there was no one else in the room with him. He was chained at one end, and there was a door about 10 meters away on the other end of the room. The room itself was quite bare, only a few torches at the very top of the walls to provide light.

Without warning, the door cracked open, and the man Tenzin hoped he would never have to see again walked through the door. Tenzin gritted his teeth and breathed, "Arnaq. It's you." Just about to close the door, Arnaq stopped. "Why yes, old friend. It is me."

Tenzin, in a fit of rage, yelled, "Don't you dare call me 'old friend'! Where is my daughter?"

Arnaq slowly walked up to Tenzin. Had Tenzin not been suspended, they would have seen eye to eye, even with Tenzin's height. "Let's not worry about them for now, shall we? First, let's take a trip down memory lane." At this, he began to circle Tenzin.

"The last time we met, you left me for dead. I don't think that leaves us in much of a good position for discussion. Therefore, part of my ultimate goal is to bring you to your knees, and have you beg for mercy. And then, I will show you exactly what you showed me 25 years ago."

Tenzin, horrified, stares into Arnaq's one visible eye. "You're mad. No one - not even your old friends - will help you in this ridiculous journey." Arnaq laughs a hearty laugh. "They already have, my friend."

With that, he produces from his belt a stick made out of electricity. His rubber glove protected him from the bolts of lightning shooting out from it. "One of my old friends from school manufactured this for me when I told him of my plans. However, he backstabbed me, and sold it to the Equalists. Good riddance, I say. So I improved on it's design, past what even the Equalists could do. And it works perfectly."

Arnaq walks over to Tenzin. "They also work wonders as an interrogation device. About your daughter, they'll be fine: I've lowered the settings on their Echidna sticks. But you - I told you I'll make you grovel."

Tenzin's eyes were fixated on the Echidna stick, as it barely avoided touching him over his torso. Then, without warning, it rammed itself near his kidney. Tenzin's screams could be heard down the hall, all the way to Kai's room, and even further in the other direction, to Jinora's room.

* * *

Mako opens his eyes to Kun, strung up with his hands over his head, to prevent his bending. When Mako tries to get up, his hands are chained in a similar manner to the top of the ceiling. Kun groans. "Where are we?"

A bump from beneath them answers the question nicely. Mako responds, "We're on some kind of truck. Most likely, from the guys who shot us. But whose truck is it, and why are we chained up?"

Kun begins to rummage around near him, to see if there's any items that might give them a clue about their captors. "Mako, check this out." Kun kicks over a lid of a crate towards Mako. The insignia on the top is a triangle of the 3 common elements, with the letters "TTT" in flowing script below the logo.

Mako threw his head back against the side of the truck. "It's the Triple Threat Triad. They must be ready to ransom us off for money. That's the only thing they're after." Mako leans in towards Kun. "All right, we're going to have to work together here. The best thing we can do is get out of these chains."

"Here's the plan. When we stop, we need to melt these chains off of our wrists. But keep your arms up, so they don't know we're free. When they check this compartment, I'll knock them out, and I want you to earthbend a wall around the truck. I'll get to the wheel, and you have to defend the truck when we make our getaway."

Kun nodded, and immediately began to focus his fire onto his wrists, mimicking Mako's actions. He soon felt the hot metal slide down his arms, and quickly waved it off, hoping to avoid burning himself or his clothes further. Mako kept his hands up in their same position, motioning for Kun to do the same.

They kept their hands up for the next 20 minutes, allowing themselves short breaks to rest their shoulders, always anxious that during one of their breaks the truck would stop. However, it did stop, and Mako clenched his arms, preparing to attack the instant the doors opened.

At long last the doors opened, and they saw a triad member in the blinding light. As realization dawned on his face, that his prisoners were unchained, Mako leaped forward, hand blazing with fire, so much so that the triad member was thrown back 5 meters and a large flare of fire erupted from the truck.

They were in some sort of underground chamber, built from rock, probably under the city. Around them milled close to 50 triad members, all benders. There was an opening from which they came, but it was heavily guarded. They would need some serious firepower to be able to escape, but luckily for them, that was exactly what they had.

As soon as the guard was down, Kun erected a sturdy wall of earth, surrounding the truck, just as the remaining triad members blasted the truck with fire, water and earth. Mako punched through the barrier between them and the unsuspecting truck driver, knocking him out of his seat. "Kun, open up this wall!" Mako commanded.

A hole emerged in the wall as Kun struggled to maintain multiple layers of earth. Unfortunately, one bright triad member blasted fire at the cab of the truck, forcing Mako to exit the truck, and dragged Kun along with him. Hoping to create a diversion, Kun created some giant stone pillars, trying to block the path of the triad members. However, their numbers outlived the strength of the rock, as they melted it down with fire and water.

"Kun, you can bend earth and fire, right?" Kun nodded, too focused on the battle to respond with words. "Then lavabend!" Kun raised a wall of stone that reached the ceiling of the underground chamber before turning around. "You're crazy! Do you know how hard that is?"

Mako scanned their side of the wall. "That's really our only chance. There are too many of them to take out, and they just melt down your walls. Watch out!", he yelled as the wall crumbled from the ceiling. Kun pounded the ground and shook up the entire cavern, before filling all the nooks and crannies with earth. Without warning, lava shot out of the ground, and it took all the triad members to avoid being engulfed in flames.

"Run! Now!" Mako called out to Kun. They sped towards the truck that brought them into the cavern. It, through sheer luck, had not been burned to a metal crisp, and Mako found he was able to commandeer it. Kun remained on the top of the truck, to defend against any unfocused triad members. As Mako sped away down the tunnel, Kun got a glimpse of an overturned crate, filled with the electricity sticks that he saw in the swamp.

As soon as Mako and Kun made it out of the lair, Kun dropped into the cab, next to Mako. "Hey, that was some good bending out there." Mako chuckled. "You're talking to me?" he asked. "You're the lavabender here. I should be thanking you."

Kun smiled at the friendly words. "Hey, it was a team effort. Thanks for saving my butt in there, about 8 times. If it wasn't for you, we'd still be in that truck, heading to who knows where."

Mako thought for a solid 5 minutes. "This isn't like the triads." Kun, startled, queried, "Isn't that what you said they're after? Money, and ransoming people off?"

Mako inclined his head. "Good memory, but hear me out. The triads are a secretive bunch. Only a few non - gang members know where they are, and where they meet. And I would bet you big money that this was the largest gathering of triad members they have ever orchestrated. I'm guessing some aren't even triad members." He shrugged. "Besides, who would they ransom us to?"

Kun turned away from Mako, towards the window of the truck. "I - I guess you're right." But deep down, Kun knew that he wasn't. Somehow, the triads were linked to the men in the swamp, and it was Kun's job to figure out how.

* * *

Tenzin breathed in and out heavily. The constant shocks from the Echidna sticks left him in great pain, and leaving him to hang by his limbs forced him to clench his muscled to avoid from chafing his wrists on the chains, hurting him even more.

He looked down at his bare torso. The month of imprisonment had left him more ripped than before, even at his old age. Even so, he couldn't stop the random muscle spasms that came from being shocked, and he had red marks over the front of his body.

Tenzin was so tired, he didn't notice Jinora appear in front of him. Not the real Jinora, she was locked in a cage in solitary confinement to his left, but her spiritual self. Blue, floating and hologram - like, Jinora came closer to Tenzin.

"Dad, it's me. Don't panic." This warning was unneeded, because Tenzin could not have shouted if he tried. He wearily lifted his head. "How - how are you doing this?" he croaked. "Thanks to our meditation, I went back to spiritual normal, meaning I can do this again."

"I already talked with Kai. He had the same idea I did - they didn't kill you for a reason. That means that we have a purpose. I say we wait this out, since we know Lin will get suspicious. I'm sorry Dad, there's no other way out here."

Tenzin smiled. "Don't worry about me, Jinora," he rasps. "I'll be fine." He groaned. "You and Kai take care of yourselves. If Arnaq does more of this - " - he inclined his head downwards, to his scarred torso - " - then I'll need all the strength I can get."

Jinora nods, and dissipates into thin air. Tenzin relaxes his muscles, allowing himself to be held up by his wrists, which already began to hurt. He finally understood his purpose at Arnaq's hands: It was to make him suffer the way Arnaq had. Tenzin calmed his body, and continued his breathing exercises. There was only one person who was going to lose this fight, and Tenzin wouldn't let it be him.

* * *

A swift punch to Kun's shoulder sealed the punishment for wandering off. He rubbed his arm, amazed that such a small girl could deliver such a powerful shot. He was, of course, talking about Ikki, and she was the last in the list of people wanting to punch him and Mako for leaving the island on a whim.

"To be fair, the idea was all mine," Mako offered in his defense. "Then you should get double his punches. Everyone, ready yourselves again," snapped Lin. Mako raised his arms painfully. "No, no, I think I'm good. But at least one good thing came out of this. Kun can lavabend!"

"And don't any of you think that I'm going to show you after what I've gone through for the last five minutes," growled Kun, still rubbing his shoulder. He stormed off towards the door. Ikki called behind him, "Show us or it didn't happen!" With a yell of pure rage, Kun shot lava in a perfect circle around Ikki. By the time the lava had settled back into the earth, Ikki was well and truly scared, while the rest congratulated him. With a small smile, Kun slammed the door to the temple behind him.

Lin turned to Mako. "At least you weren't hurt when you were underground. What do you think about that big a group, associated with the triads?"

Mako replied, "I don't think they were working all alone. I think there's someone else behind this." Lin gritted her teeth. "And I think I have a hunch who it might be. Just in case, I want to wait until Tonraq and Izumi come back to make sure, but if I'm right, then we'll need Kun more than ever right now, especially since he can lavabend."

She turned away, and starting walking towards the women's dormitory. "And I'll see you early tomorrow morning, _rookie_."

Mako had to smile at the "rookie" jab. She had been using it since they took down Amon. He also began to head down towards the docks. He had some semi - important business to attend to, both police work, and off the books. _Speaking of which, let's figure out what those electricity sticks are._

THE END


	6. Chapter 5: Global Assault (Part 1)

**I haven't written a chapter for this series in a long time.**

 **Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and have a great New Year, everyone. This chapter will signal the beginning of my return to this site and writing fanons, because it was a pain to leave. I hope you guys had a great break from school, and I'm here to welcome you guys back.**

 **I'm sorry I was gone, I'm glad I'm back, and be prepared next week for a fanon a day, because that keeps your crippling depression away. I speak from experience.**

Previously, on _Kun: The New Avatar_ :

Mako arrives on the island to teach and train Kun in firebending, and after a long day of training, suggests a visit into Republic City in order to clear Kun's head and introduce him to the city, but they are captured by the Triple Threat Triad. They manage to escape, but not before finding some evidence that may lead to a connection between the triads and the bandits that Kun saw in the swamp.

Tenzin, Jinora and Kai try to escape, but they don't know that they are being monitored the whole time by Arnaq. They fail to escape and are locked in solitary confinement. Arnaq pays a special visit to Tenzin, torturing him since Tenzin essentially punished Arnaq the same way 25 years ago.

BOOK 1: RESTORATION  
EPISODE 5: GLOBAL ASSAULT

At the borders of the island crescent that is the Fire Nation, due to massive heat, there are gigantic volcanoes, easily the size of multiple airships. These volcanoes served as natural defenses for the Fire Nation in the event of a mass invasion orchestrated by the combination of the two other world powers: The Northern Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom.

These volcanoes are the perfect haven for the firebenders. It supplements their bending, and because of their spiritual connection to the dragons that resided there for thousands of years, they were able to possess a skill no other bender could have. Even against the full moon, the firebenders would possess immeasurable power and were unstoppable.

Even Fire Lord Sozin, with his infinite wisdom about the intricacies of the world, did not know of their existence. Their secret had been hidden for decades, without a lack of scholars in the Fire Nation to perpetuate such information.

And so it was from here that Arnaq's invasion into the Fire Nation began. A group of only 3 dozen or so gliders crested on top of the closest and smallest volcano in the ring. Their leader, a man simply known as Hisashi. Nothing was known about him, except he had benefitted greatly from joining Arnaq's ranks early on.

Hisashi breathed in. Not even Sozin's Comet could compare to the level of fire he felt coursing through his veins. In fact, that gave him an idea…

Looking around at his team, Hisashi saw that the firebenders were breathing in the volcanic ash, seemingly unharmed by the poisonous gas. The others wore masks designed to keep the toxic particles away from the nose and mouth of the wearer, and those without bending abilities had the Echidna sticks strapped to their belts.

Hisashi breathed in again. "We have been chosen to perform this task as part of a ritual for some, to prove their loyalty, but as a stepping stone for others, reaching our goals quicker. You all know the plan, now it is time to act on it."

The group split into two. The first group was the smaller, but more agile group: it consisted of Hisashi and about a dozen other men who were perfectly in control of their gliders. The second group packed up their gliders into their backpacks and began to trek down the volcano.

Once they had just barely kept out of the line of sight of the watchtowers, Hisashi gave the signal. As one, the dozen men jumped off of the volcano. Using expert maneuvers, they all separated from each other until they formed a gigantic "V" shape in the sky.

The defense mechanisms in the Fire Nation whirred to life as they detected unknown flying craft. Rapid fire fireballs ejected out of large machinery located on the edge of the capital. The wall was also protected by firebenders, and they also began to attack the dozen gliders.

Unfortunately for the Fire Nation, the gliders were very adept in the air, due to hours of practice in the Earth Kingdom, and were able to avoid every single well - aimed blast. Not only this, but they also held small balls of slime that were meant to immobilize the more dangerous machines that were more accurate and damaging. One by one, each machine fell to the slime bombs, that were ironically first developed by Sokka against the Fire Nation.

As the gilders flew around in the air and distracted the defenses of the Fire Nation, the rest of the group entered the city through the wall surrounding it. In the middle of the city, they could see the main fortress of the capital. As their friends took down the defenses outside of the city, the invader group made their way towards the fortress capital.

* * *

From the skies, Hisashi could see that the invader group had breached the first wall, but there was a lot of work to do. Even from his position, he could see the guards around the inner two walls converge on the spot of the intrusion.

A hastily thrown fireball distracted him for a moment, and he shifted his gaze to the defenses on the outer wall. Although their purpose had been served, Hisashi, the military strategist that he was, chose to completely annihilate the outer defenses to prevent any attack from the rear. That wasn't crucial to the plan, but it was always better to be safe.

Swooping down into a deep dive, Hisashi targeted the openings of the metal towers, trying to throw some of his more special bombs into them. The others followed his lead, and soon, the outer defenses were nothing more than retreating soldiers and burning wood from the acid bombs.

Just in time, as well. Their friends on the ground were having trouble with the guards for the second wall. Even though they bested the defenders with skill, there were just too many of them for the small task force to handle alone.

The guards on the ground began to push the invading force back, step by step. Even from the sky, Hisashi saw that at least two of the dozen on the ground lay motionless, most probably dead or severely injured.

With a battle cry, Hisashi jumped off of his glider, letting it sail into the group. Even though it did knock over two of the invading force, they recovered quickly, as they had been expecting something of the sort. The same could not be said for the poor guards, however, as they knocked each other over in sprawled confusion.

The rest of the gliders performed the same activity, jumping off of their winged vehicles and letting them assault the guards in their stead. Slowly but surely, the guards were moved back, closer and closer to the wall. Hisashi had not yet figured out how he would penetrate the thick concrete now that he didn't have his glider, but he would figure it out when he had disposed of the guards.

Unfortunately for Hisashi, he would never get the chance. As he was in the middle of disposing of a guard, he felt the unmistakable feeling of cold metal. A voice whispered in his ear. "One move, and you won't have a head anymore. Walk." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his other men in a similar situation. They began to walk forward, into the imposing structure of the Fire Nation capital.

* * *

Hotaru sped forward, his natural speed and genetic traits helping him greatly as he rocketed his way to the Fire Nation. Snorts of green fire trailed over his scales, but they didn't singe Izumi.

She wiped her forehead nervously. All she hoped for was a fighting chance, a sliver of hope that might let her defeat the invaders.

* * *

 _Hisashi had only been in the large room once before, the "elemental room", as they called it. The first time, however, there wasn't a large table in the center of the room, and there certainly were not other people within the room itself._

 _The first person he noticed, quite surprisingly, was the portly gentleman on his right. Shaped like a bowling ball, and with a suit that barely covered his frame, he appeared to be some sort of rich businessman, with the funds to help support Arnaq's goal._

 _The second man was shaped like a skyscraper, towering 2 meters tall, a half meter over Hisashi himself. With soldier armor covering his body, and lapels on his shoulders, Hisashi could tell that the man meant business._

 _On the far end, shrouded in darkness, was Arnaq. Hisashi could see nothing of him except the chair in which he sat. A white gloved hand pointed towards the chair that separated them. Hisashi forced himself to step forward, but refrained from sitting._

 _"_ _Welcome to my humble abode. As I've heard, this is not the first time that you've come here. That's…impressive."_

 _The voice cut through the tension in the air, ironic considering it gave Hisashi chills that ran down his spine and nestled somewhere below his ribs. Nevertheless, the others immediately grew relaxed and their faces broke out into somewhat gruesome smiles._

 _It was at this point that Hisashi could see what was on the table, as a light flickered over his head. It was a detailed map of the Fire Nation capital. Shaped much like Ba Sing Se, the Fire Nation utilized their advances in technology to support the building of large defenses for the castle, including robotic trebuchets, platinum walls and cannons that could store fire._

 _"_ _As you've discussed with your superiors, you believe you have a way of penetrating the walls. Please explain."_

 _This came from the man on Hisashi's right, the battle - worn soldier. Hisashi cleared his throat, settling his heart. "We have realized that it would be nearly impossible to break through the three layers of walls with the forces that we could take. We could, of course, increase the size of the force, but that would mean that we would be much more dangerous and therefore worthy of increased defense. We need an invading force that is not too many people to require an increase in defenses in that area, but enough to get through the walls."_

 _The portly man shuffled in his seat. "How do you plan on accomplishing this? You just said that you cannot break the walls."_

 _Hisashi smiled, showing his perfectly white teeth. "There is one way to get in."_

* * *

Hisashi stared at the condensation of his breath. The small cot he was on could barely contain his frame. He hadn't slept since he had entered the room, but it was getting close to time. He started to worry, before remembering that he had placed the man himself.

A guard began to walk closer to Hisashi's cell, his baton clinking on each of the bars before stopping right in front of him. Without making a sound, he slipped a key through the bars and shuffled forward. Hisashi smiled again, happy that his investment worked.

After opening his own cell, he opened the cells of the ones next to him. Luckily for him, he picked the right side, as three of his best men were in those cells. Running through the halls, Hisashi tossed the key to one of his other men, and whispered, "Get everyone out. Meet us back here in 10 minutes. We're getting our weapons."

Hisashi began to sprint through the halls, disposing of any guards he could find and taking their weapons, better to defend with as they looked for their weapons. Hisashi took special notice of their position, and recalled the map of the Fire Nation capital.

 _"_ _Once we get out of the cells, we'll have free reign to look for our weapons. No doubt they will be taken when we're imprisoned. Getting our weapons is key to winning this fight."_

Hisashi opened a door as his friends were defeating a phalanx of guards. Inside, he found their weapons: An assortment of knives, plated gloves, armor and his favorite dagger. Grabbing some of them, he took his own and fastened them to his body, tossing the rest to his friends.

They ran back through the hallways to the cell blocks, were they distributed the weapons to the waiting members of their group.

 _"_ _After we get our weapons, we need to head to the main hall. There we can take control of the city by taking the throne. Because the Fire Nation doesn't have armies of guards within the city, there's no way to defend against a large group of invaders with only a handful of guards at a time."_

Hisashi led the group through the hallways. He didn't care if they were going in the right direction or not; if they weren't, then they would be able to dispose of more guards quicker. Any way was the right way when they could remove some guards from the equation.

Finally, after half an hour of running the halls, they found the main hall. The main political leaders in the Fire Nation, along with ambassadors from each of the nations. Protected by guards, the Chief Minister of the Fire Nation stepped forward. "Fire Lady Izumi is on her way here as we speak. Do what you want with us, she won't let you get away."

Just as the minister finished, a loud roar came from outside the building. One of the group ran over to the window from where it came, and yelled: "It's Izumi! Everyone get down!"

Hisashi ran to the window. "You guys work on things here! I'll take Izumi out!" Without waiting for a response, Hisashi jumped out of the window and onto the roofs of the houses below. Charging Hotaru, Hisashi removed his favorite blade, staring at it's nicked edge from years of survival in the cities of the Fire Nation.

 _"_ _Most likely, to let the plan go forward, I will have to sacrifice myself in order to keep Izumi away from the invading force long enough for them to subjugate the prisoners. Hopefully, my death will mean the success of our cause."_

Concentrating, Hisashi set the blade on fire. Without even mentally congratulating himself, he threw it with all his power at Hotaru, the blade flipping end over end as it hurtled towards the dragon.

At the last moment, Hotaru opened his mouth and sent out a blast of green fire that burnt the dagger to a crisp. The green flames traveled towards Hisashi, as he closed his eyes and stretched out his arms.

* * *

Arnaq closed his eyes and massaged his temples. The news was well and good, but the plan could not move forward without the success in the other section. Hisashi's death had been planned, but he had lost a good soldier. He would just have to hope that his sacrifice was not in vain.

THE END

 **I'm just kidding. I don't have crippling depression; I used to. But regardless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of _Kun: The New Avatar_. The next few chapters for a bunch of my fanons will be out next week, and the week after that, I'm planning one more chapter of _Fire of the Red Lotus_ and Part 2 of Global Assault.**

 **See you next week!**


	7. Chapter 5: Global Assault (Part 2)

**Hopefully, this will cleanse your brain a little bit, at least.**

 **I tried to write this as gracefully as possible, recalling my high school days when I had a teacher who would take points off for not writing "gracefully". Using vocabulary, complex sentence structure and the like. Anyway, I hope this was _graceful_ enough for your liking. **

Previously, on _Kun: The New Avatar_

Hisashi and his friends were on a mission to defeat the Fire Nation. The first part of the plan involved Hisashi, along with some of the finest gliders in the group, to distract the Fire Nation defenses lined along the outside wall. With their evasive maneuvers and bombs of slime and glue, the gliders were able to thoroughly crush the outer defenses.

While the gliders took the heat from the defenses, a well timed bomb blew open the wall, allowing the other members of the group to breach the inside of the capital. There, they encountered strong resistance, but with the addition of their aviator assistants, they were able to push back the guards. That is, until they were captured by the Fire Nation and awaited the arrival of Fire Lady Izumi for their judgement.

While in the cell, Hisashi recollected his discussion with Arnaq and the head of tactical operations in the organization prior to their invasion. Hisashi mentioned how he would be unable to enter the Fire Nation capital building itself, unless he was captured as a POW. As Hisashi plays out his explanation of the strategy in his mind, he is acting upon his plan, moving through the hallways and disabling scores of guards in a random path, gathering weapons and growing in number.

Finally, he reaches the main hall, filled with ministers and officials in the Fire Nation. The acting head of the Fire Nation calls attention to the Fire Lady, Izumi, heading directly towards the palace. Faced with a difficult decision, Hisashi leaps out of the building and sacrifices himself for the good of his cause, and his comrades capture the officials in the Fire Nation and hold them hostage, defeating the Fire Nation.

BOOK 1: RESTORATION  
EPISODE 5: GLOBAL ASSAULT (PART 2)

Gazing over the pearl of beauty that was the Southern Water Tribe, Qatar couldn't help but remember the last time he'd been here. A young boy, hearing of all the adventures of Katara and Sokka, the greatest warriors of their tribe. How he wished to be like them, to conquer a great city, to lead others into battle, to inspire.

And now he would get to fulfill his wish. How unfortunate that it would be against his own people, but there remained no choice. He had seen to it that his old friends and family were removed from the village, but the heavily fortressed city was still full with people. They would all taste his vengeance.

Qatar had never been one to waste words. As he turned around, he saw a dozen rows of warriors, all prepared to face the Southern Water Tribe guards. Long hours in the Forbidden City had trained them for all climates, and they were barely shivering in the subzero temperatures. Qatar himself was too used to the biting wind to pay it any mind, and he faced the men.

"This is our chance. If we fail, we have let our lord down. If we succeed, it forwards our mission. You know what to do." The wind chill had nothing to do with the inherent lack of emotion in the words. All the men nodded their head sharply, learning early that the less they acted and expressed, the more effective they would be.

Qatar had managed the impossible: From his own array of followers from the Southern Water Tribe, he had chosen the most rugged and determined of them all to fight against their own tribe and people. They led the attack, creating pathways for their fellow benders to follow. Not only were there a mix of benders, including specific metalbenders who had left the city of Zaofu, but there were extremely skilled nonbenders as well, and as they rocketed down the side of the glaciers behind the Southern Water Tribe, it was a beautiful sight to see dozens of streaks down the sparkling white surface.

A major flaw of the Southern Water Tribe defense was the lack of protection to their South. When the North occupied the South during their invasion, there was tightened security should anyone leave or enter that path. But apparently, the new leadership had not the insight nor the forethought of protecting the vital position. Thus, Qatar was able to bring his entire team almost to the city itself before a stray eye from the guards sounded the bell of an invasion.

When the group reached the bottom of the glacier, they were surprised to see nearly no opposition. Surprised, Qatar moved forward slowly, until they entered the village from the back. There was no movement, and the wind began to slow down, unbeknownst to the invaders. Qatar saw the top of the Southern Capital spire above the rolling snow, and he began to move quicker through the empty village.

As soon as they made it far enough into the village, ice tore towards them, accompanied by a blizzard of snow and a maelstrom of bodies. The earthbenders joined together to create a large wall that blocked the blows from the ice, and the metalbenders joined together the metal from their weapons and created a gigantic shield to cover them from the snow.

The wind died down, and Qatar leaped through the earthen barrier and some mist as soon as the ice stopped pounding the shield. He landed in front of their attackers and spun on his toes, encasing many of their opponents in ice before removing them from his path. It would take too long to dispose of them quickly, so massive incarcerations would have to do.

Qatar charged forward, and many of his effective benders followed. The large majority of the nonbenders remained behind to dispose of the phalanx of White Lotus guards and waterbenders that had exited houses to attack their invaders.

Qatar was enraged that his plan had failed. He had intended to make as little commotion as possible, and now the entire city was nearing their location. His frustration was dealt onto his adversaries, the poor guards who were frozen or encased in snow as Qatar charged the Southern Capital.

"It's been a while, Qatar." The man in question slid to a shaky stop on the ice directly in front of the Southern Capital. Looking around him, he began to become more and more furious. "Show yourself!" he bellowed. The slow clinking of boots from within the building left the doorway and stood directly in front of him.

The man in the boots was Tonraq, the most imposing figure that Qatar had ever seen. Not even Arnaq's cold, dead eyes and ubiquitous scowl could compare with the strong features that Tonraq's possessed. Combined with his height, massive frame and the ice blue eyes that now bore into Qatar's own, he had not felt more afraid for his life at any other point.

"The first thing we taught you in the army training camp: Always assume your plan has failed. Has it been so long that you don't remember, _Qatar_?"

"Don't say that name!" The words tore from Qatar's mouth before he could stop them. "You," he shakily pointed towards Tonraq. "You've caused everything to go wrong in my life. You're the reason I've become who I am. And I will not let anything get in my way to eradicating you and your imbecile friends!"

Tonraq laughed, a guttural sound of joy that caused Qatar's blood to boil. "And what makes you think that you can defeat me?" he queried. "You could barely top your class. You were disorganized, unfocused. You didn't care!"

As the words finished echoing in the valley, Tonraq sent gigantic blasts of snow towards Qatar's allies, knocking them out and keeping the fight between himself and Qatar. "I had nothing to do with your father's death," Tonraq whispered. The sound carried to Qatar, whose eyes bulged and the veins on his neck stood out.

A scream tore from Qatar's throat, ripping it raw with pain. He charged Tonraq with trails of snow and ice following him. He didn't care that there was no one to defend him, that there was absolutely no way that he could win, that he was out of his mind. He just wanted to rid himself of the man that had been tormenting him for the past 10 years.

Tonraq easily sidestepped the attacks, and sent Qatar tumbling with an added jet of snow that lifted him up and over onto his back. Groaning, Qatar stood up again and faced Tonraq. "Your father went into battle willingly. There was nothing I could do," repeated Tonraq. A sob began to form in Qatar's throat, and his arms swung at his sides.

Qatar sank to his knees, clutching his head in his hands as he sobbed freely. Tonraq, unsure of the act, was wary at first, but as Qatar's tears began to freeze into ice at his knees, Tonraq rushed forward and tried to console him.

"Qatar, I'm sorry, I tried everything I could - "

"LIAR!"

Before Tonraq could reply, he was thrown backwards by an explosion of snow below him. Sliding backwards on the freezing ice, Tonraq looked up to see a changed Qatar. He was calm, much calmer than he was prior to collapsing. With one arm, he pointed towards the prostate Tonraq.

"You weren't meant to be here. I was promised…" His hand began to shake unwillingly. "You ruined everything! My whole life, my future, my dreams…" His sentence dribbled into a moan, and Qatar looked truly insane as he alternated between screaming insults, moaning and laughing with no purpose, a cacophony of sounds that terrified Tonraq.

With his shoulders hunched forward, Qatar looked like a possessed man, ready to take his first meal. Drawing his arms back, Qatar moved forward, closer to Tonraq. "You ruined everything!" Each word was punctuated by a blast of snow and ice that smashed into Tonraq, drawing blood in some places, freezing his limbs and breaking bones.

The young waterbender moved right up to Tonraq, not letting up any of his shots. He moved too close, however, and the chief was able to move his legs up and kneed Qatar in the jaw. His foot collided with Qatar's groin, and he brought his heel down onto Qatar's sternum.

Qatar stumbled back, blood swinging from his lips. Tonraq got up unsteadily, trying to regain his balance. He looked up to see Qatar still standing, despite the immense pain and abdominal cramping. He swayed on his feet, and so did Tonraq, creating an rhythmic perspective of their pain.

Again Qatar raised his arm to point at Tonraq. "If it weren't for you, my father would still be here," he mumbled. His recurring nightmares of his dead father were brought to the surface, triggered by Tonraq's image. Tonraq tried to speak, but his voice was gone, his throat seizing up in cold.

"I knew I couldn't beat you." Qatar shook his head. "There was no way. The only way I can fulfill my goal is if I…" Qatar threw back his head and laughed heartily. He had just thought of an idea.

"There's only one way that I can succeed. It will cost me my life, yours and all of my friends' lives, but it will be worth it."

Qatar began to mould the capital building, breaking it apart and turning it into a whirlwind of sheer cold. The ice and snow that made it up was torn apart, and Qatar moved it around, destroying houses and other buildings in an ever - growing circle, towards Tonraq and his frozen friends.

The tornado grew to 30 meters in diameter, extending past Tonraq and through two rows of houses. Qatar brought back the tornado into a giant ball a meter in diameter, condensing the energy until he could hold it no more. With shock wave equivalent to explosives, a ripple extended from Qatar as the ball of ice exploded. Qatar was knocked back into the snow, and so was Tonraq.

Tonraq lay in the snow, enveloped almost completely by snow. To his right, all of the assistants in the invasion were frozen over, and further along, Qatar lay completely unmoving, his body having frozen into a solid block of ice. Whatever the case, Qatar had succeeded, throwing the rule of the Southern Water Tribe away from the hands of Tonraq and into limbo, waiting for someone to take up the mantle.

THE END

 **This chapter I'm pretty proud of, and you will be seeing more of this in two weeks' time. That's when everything comes together and we can actually move forward with the major plotline.**

 **This chapter also doesn't have any perspective shifts. It all happens in half an hour, so I like this type of writing. If I ever have a continuous chapter (which I probably never will, ever) then I'll try to write it like this.**

 **Anyway, we have a _Fire of the Red Lotus_ chapter next time we meet again, which picks up on the failed chapter of the last time. Whew. Let's not go there. **

**See you then.**


	8. Chapter 5: Global Assault (Part 3)

**Well, I'm quite surprised that I managed to write a whole "anonymous" section of this chapter without me hurting myself because I wanted to write the names in _so badly_. If you don't figure out who they are, then I don't know what to say. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy the third and final part of _Global Assault_ (it's more of a teaser for the future) and more episodes will be forthcoming soon. **

Previously, on _Kun: The New Avatar_

Qatar led a large group of people from the Forbidden City into the Southern Water Tribe from the back of the city. H was surprised to not see any opposition, but as they neared the capital building, they were attacked by a phalanx of guards. Enraged that his plan had failed, Qatar quickly defeated his opponents and ran towards the building.

Before he could take over the Southern Water Tribe, however, Tonraq stepped out. Qatar was worried he would see Tonraq, and was even more frustrated when TOnraq quickly disposed of his allies, leaving the two of them to fight it out.

They engaged in a waterbending match, but Qatar was no equal of Tonraq's. Trying to gain the upper hand, he faked his emotions, weeping in front of Tonraq. When Qatar had the opportunity, he blasted Tonraq with ice and snow, hurtling him backwards and continued to pound into Tonraq until the chief fought back, landing a few blows of his own.

Qatar realized that he could do nothing to stop his loss, and so he sacrificed himself and the lives of his friends to defeat Tonraq and destroy the Southern Water Tribe, hoping that his sacrifice was not in vain.

BOOK 1: RESTORATION  
EPISODE 5: GLOBAL ASSAULT (PART 3)

The old earthbender was the first to arrive. Granted, she hadn't much distance to walk, and she was an earthbender, but it would still take a long day and night before the waterbender arrived. The two talked about their history, and how they would prepare to face the upcoming challenges, when the firebender arrived.

Sloshing through the waters, his crown perched on his head and his Fire Nation robes clutched tightly around his arms in fear of them being soaked. He waded into the water up to the other two benders, and growled, "Why are we meeting _here_ , of all places?"

"Shut up. I didn't think it was pleasant when you invited me into the searing heart of a volcano, but that's what you get when you're on opposite sides of the world."

This coming from the waterbender, which had the earthbender laugh heartily. "She's got a point, you know."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the ex - Fire Lord breathed, "That was over 50 years ago! And where did you expect me to get married: In a relaxing pond?"

A swift punch from the earthbender shut him up, as he grabbed his arm in a squeal of pain. "No matter how old you get, you'll always be the same old person," he muttered.

"What's the matter? Can't handle a punch? I still remember the days when you would hit me back, but I guess we're too old now to have any more fun," the earthbender retorted.

Rubbing his arm, the firebender replied, "Yes, but not only am I 5 years older than you, but I've aged quite horribly." He chuckled to himself.

The waterbender cut in, her words sharper than the ice she used to bend so quickly. "You were always a goofball. At least, when you weren't trying to kill us and take Aang. Life has changed so much since those days."

Snapping them out of their reverie, a cold wind blew through the swamp, the spiritual forces seeming to nudge them back to their goal. "What information have you gathered?" the waterbender pursued. Both the firebender and the earthbender shrugged in tandem, and giggled to themselves.

"You two are insufferable."

"And you haven't given up on being the mother of the group, have you?" The earthbender fired back. The firebender stifled laughter and he fist bumped the earthbender. "Not much left of the group, but we still have it. The fire hasn't died, but I wish he would."

It was the waterbender who chuckled this time, the memory of her decades with her friends bringing a tear to her eye. Trying to bring the conversation back to the point, the waterbender said, "Alright, let's try and bring things back on track. What have you heard from the Fire Nation?"

The firebender took his time answering. "Well, I can't say anything for sure, but some of my specs encountered some suspicious activity in the volcanic regions: Some footprints, a hastily abandoned cave as well as some supplies near the edge of an active volcano. Of course, these could all be the work of some hikers that took too deep a plunge, but if it corroborates with other stories, I think there might be a reason."

The earthbender cut in. "I've been living in the swamp for 30 years; I know the entire swamp in and out and with its help I can access the entire Earth Kingdom. By my calculations, Tenzin, Kai, Jinora and their slobbery Pepper were on a journey up north, towards the Forbidden City, when they were ambushed and taken. The spirits can't get inside of the structure where they're located, but it's suspicious, to say the least."

The waterbender nodded. "I've heard the same from the Southern Water Tribe. There have been reports of free floating boats that have been constructed in the Southern style, but no one has reported a stolen boat. Not only that, but some of the materials that were left indicated that the person - or people - who came in the boat knew how to survive in these conditions. I had my informants double - check with the Northern Water Tribe, but they haven't said anything either."

They all stood for a moment to process this news. As usual, the earthbender broke the silence. "So what now? What's our plan?"

Sighs came from the waterbender's direction, but it took them a few seconds to realize she herself wasn't the one making the noises. The swamp began to stir as cold wind swept through it. The firebender clutched his robes tightly around his shivering frame, and even the earthbender clenched her fists and the spiritual energy began to awaken.

From deep within her concentration, the waterbender began to speak in a ghostly voice. "I was worried it would come to this. We have to ask the spirits for a favor, and the only way to do that is to use the spiritual energies within our own bodies. This may not work, and this may not even work. But we have to take the chance, and if it does work, we'll be back to our old selves again. Are you with me?"

The earthbender scoffed. "Haven't you lived your life with us for the past 80 years? Of course we're in." The firebender couldn't talk because his teeth were chattering, but he nodded his consent as well.

The waterbender nodded and continued the process. Mist swirled around them like a tornado, and it began to curl upwards, reaching the branches of the trees and spreading throughout the swamp until it seemed to others that a fog settled down over the entirety of the marshland.

The mist shot to each of their bodies, freezing it in time as they were slowly changing within the boundaries of the mist. A loud sound reverberated throughout the swamp, and each of them fell back into the slush.

* * *

Zuko was the first to wake up, most probably due to the chill seeping into his bones. He quickly stood straight and ignited his skin, containing the heat to just his clothes and drying them instantly. He was impressed at his physique, something he hadn't seen in a few decades.

Surprisingly enough, his clothes hadn't caught on fire, and he was wearing his combination of Fire Nation loyal robes and his soldier's outfit, something he had created for himself to exude courage, leadership and strength. His broadswords were sheathed on his back, and assorted weapons were dotted around his belt.

Toph got up next, finding dexterity in her joints that she hadn't felt in decades. When she got up from her prostate position, she noticed she had on her Chief of Police uniform from 40 years ago, and she looked as young as she was when she first took the position. Her coils of metal rope were bound at her hip, and she found she could visibly see even farther now that her feet had that much more weight on them.

Katara was the last to wake up, completely drained from the act. Her water tribe parka was soaked, but she found that she was able to bend it all out of her clothes. The parka fit much more comfortably now than it did as a young adult. Her technique still needed some work, but she felt completely re-energized and ready to face the world.

"This is new. I haven't felt like this in over 40 years," Zuko remarked, examining his clothes.

"Tell me about it, Fireface," retorted Toph. "Can't believe that this is what I used to feel like. It was a good day if I managed to wake up without using my earthbending, but now I feel like we could defeat Ozai all over again."

Smiling, Katara clenched her fists. "It worked, obviously." Zuko turned to her. "What on earth did you do?"

Laughing, Katara replied, "It wasn't on this earth, Zuko. I used some of our spirit energies to reverse the aging process, keeping us in the moment of our prime bending years. That, of course, is when we were all in our thirties, young enough to be completely active but old enough that we fully mastered our elements. The good old days, when everything was right in the world and we were at our peak bending performance."

Toph frowned. "There's no way that the spirits did anything like this willingly. What's the catch?"

Katara's face fell, before she continued. "The catch is that as soon as our job on earth is finished, the spirits will take away all of our energy. Which means - "

"We're going to die once we're finished with our jobs," Zuko breathed. Toph looked back and forth between the two, before loudly saying, "Hey, that's all right with me. I get to live the last weeks of my life as a 30 year old." She crossed her arms behind her head and smiled.

Even though she couldn't see it, both Zuko and Katara looked at each other and burst into laughter, which became so infectious that Toph began to laugh as well. The three of them joked their worries away, reminiscing about the good old days before Katara explained their situation to them once more. Resolving to work on their long - forgotten bending techniques tomorrow, they lay down in the mossy groves for a good sleep.

* * *

"Are both battalions on their way?"

"Yes sir."

Those two words were the only solace that Arnaq would ever need in his life. No love, no money and no support for his ideas, and Arnaq would be fine, but as long as he heard the words "yes sir" in response to his every question, Arnaq could sleep happily.

In this case, he would have even more reason to sleep well. Not only were both the Fire Nation and the Southern Water Tribe subjugated and ready for invasion, but the second objective of the mission was fulfilled as well: The Avatar was not being taught by the masters anymore. It was an annoyance that the Avatar was still being taught, but he could worry about that later.

A shame that he had lost his two best lieutenants. Of course, he wasn't expecting Tonraq to arrive at the Southern Water Tribe before his own troops, nor did he expect that Hisashi would sacrifice himself for the cause. He'd lost two valiant men fighting for the advancement of his own goal, and he appreciated that. In his new world order, they would be hailed as martyrs.

But nonetheless, Tonraq was most likely dead, frozen in the colossal avalanche that Qatar had to cause. One of the men in the attack survived long enough to radio the information to Arnaq, and he had sent in more troops to claim the Southern Water Tribe as he could, now that there was no government in place.

Izumi was more of a problem. While her pesky dragon had managed to kill Hisashi, she was too caring for her own ministers, and was forced to the outskirts of the city in order to keep them alive, should they be killed and the power of the Fire Nation fall to Arnaq's men. Once he heard that information, he was practically dancing with joy, which would have been a sight for anyone in the room.

Nevertheless, both of his armies were moving into position, ready to move forward at his word. He steepled his fingers, and smiled in the never ending darkness of his own room. Everything was going according to plan.

THE END

 **Like I said above, I hope you enjoyed. By the way, I would just like to take this moment to thank everyone reading for giving me such helpful feedback on my stories and helping me reach so many views and favorites on these stories. It really makes my day, and I hope you enjoy the content that I put out.**

 **Again, if you have any suggestions, commissions, or feedback on any of my stories, feel free to go to my profile and send me a PM or review the story itself. Again, your support is appreciated.**


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